Maharashtra ATS revisits Saquib Nachan’s village to widen terror probe

The residence of Saquib Nachan, former office-bearer of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was among the premises searched by the ATS team.

Thane: Amid the emerging geopolitical situation after the Pahalgam terrorist attack and Operation Sindoor, a huge posse of police personnel and plainclothesmen swooped at the twin villages of Borivali-Padgha in the Thane district - which was the hotbed of activities of Saquib Nachan.

Nachan is currently in Delhi’s Tihar jail after his arrest by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in the ISIS module case.

A team of the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Maharashtra police and Thane Rural police searched multiple locations in Padgha.

A former member of the banned outfit Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Nachan had come under the radar of intelligence agencies for alleged links to ISIS and Pakistan’s ISI.

Following orders from Thane court, the ATS carried out raids from Sunday midnight which continued till Monday post-noon amid heavy police bandobast.

During the raid, mobile handsets, swords, knives and incriminating documents vis-a-vis terrorism and radicalisation were seized, ATS officials said.

A dozen people have been detained and are being questioned, according to latest information.

Nachan was first convicted by the Supreme Court in 1997 for planning terror attacks in India in 1990 with Khalistani groups.

The second time, Nachan was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in jail in connection with three bomb blasts between 2002-23 - McDonald’s joint at the Mumbai Central railway station on December 6, 2002 (22 injured), at the market outside the Vile Parle suburban station on January 27, 2003 (30 injured), and inside a compartment of a local train that exploded at the Mulund railway station on March 13, 2003 (13 killed and over 80 injured). He was set free after completion of the sentence.

He was also arrested in August 2012 in connection to an attempted murder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) activist Manoj Raicha, however, released on bail in August 2014.

In 2023, Nachan was again arrested for what the National Investigation Agency described as self-assumed rights of administering the 'bayath' - oath of allegiance towards the Khalifa of ISIS to persons joining the group. Besides, investigations have revealed that the accused had self-declared the village of Padgha as a “liberated zone” and as 'Al Sham’ like Syria.

During the operation on Monday, the hours of Saquib Nachan, Aaquib Saquib Nachan, Abdul Latif Kaskar, Kaif Nachan, Shajil Nachan, Farak Zubair Mulla were searched.

“In the wake of the Pahalgam terror attack on tourists, there was a need to take preventive steps against anti-national elements that can provide logistic support for terror related activities. As there were previous incidents in which persons involved in various terrorist modules were arrested from Borivali in Padgha of Thane district, the ATS had kept a strong vigil on the activities there,” ATS officials said.

"The ATS had specific intelligence that Saquib Nachan, a former office bearer of banned outfit SIMI, and his associates had brainwashed and instigated people from the village to participate in anti-national activities.There were inputs that the associates of Nachan's outfit were activated and there is a possibility that they can carry out terrorist activities,” it said.