Shahzad Bhatti, the Pakistani gangster on the centre of the current nationwide counter-terror operation, can be a social media influencer.
In the course of the operation forward of Independence Day, safety companies had arrested over 200 operatives linked to the Shahzad Bhatti Community, which is backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Companies Intelligence (ISI).
Bhatti, who speaks Punjabi and recurrently posts movies on Instagram and Fb, at present operates from the UAE. Over the previous one 12 months, he has graduated from “organised crime” to “terror-related actions”, on the behest of the ISI, authorities sources instructed The Hindu. A number of of his Instagram accounts ending in “333” have been taken down in India.
His earliest affiliation with felony actions in India began from Punjab and shortly unfold throughout 14 States – Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala.
Searches in June
The Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) has registered three instances allegedly involving Bhatti. In June, it searched 18 areas throughout Punjab and Haryana in reference to terror-gangster community instances linked to him, questioned suspects, seized communication units, and examined monetary transactions.
Describing his modus operandi, a U.P police officer stated, “Bhatti contacted younger males on social media who favored or commented on his posts. He provided them something between ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 to place up posters together with his picture at public locations. The posters had been meant to instil concern in locals and create a reputation for him as a gangster. Progressively, he moved from posters to luring younger males to throw grenades and plant explosives round crucial installations.”
The cash was despatched on to the financial institution accounts of the people, primarily from central Asian nations. Because the quantity was small, the transactions weren’t at all times flagged as suspicious by the banking channels.
After assessing the size an individual may go for cash, he would assign them different duties corresponding to inserting Chinese language-made CCTV cameras outdoors railway stations, air bases and arterial roads. Their footage can be straight relayed to Pakistan by means of live-streaming, the officer stated.
“In a single case, he guided just a few males in Punjab on the best way to make a petroleum bomb and an IED by sending them on-line manuals. In some instances, cash was the motivation, whereas in different instances, the non secular sentiments had been exploited,” stated the officer.
One other police officer stated that although he began as a petty gangster, the Pakistani ISI leveraged his id to lure his contacts in India. “Quickly, it was not solely restricted to posters, the Pakistani ISI dropped pistols, ammunition and even narcotics in border areas and used younger males as couriers,” stated the officer.
Rajasthan arrest
On June 27, 2026, the Rajasthan Police arrested Krish Rai, 20, for allegedly recording movies of the Hanumangarh and Raisinghnagar police stations on his cell phone and sending the clip together with precise location to a consumer who recognized himself as Bhatti.
Based on the NIA, Bhatti masterminded the March 2025 grenade assault on the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Jalandhar. In April 2026, it chargesheeted him as an absconder, together with one other accused. The State police had earlier arrested and charged 9 others within the case.
Bhatti has additionally been accused of orchestrating the November 2025 explosion on the Ladies Police Station in Sirsa and the January 2026 car-bomb blast on the Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala. Within the latter case, an arrested accused was discovered to keep up a correspondence with him.
In Could 2026, the NIA named 9 accused within the Sirsa case, together with Bhatti and one other Pakistan-based handler Sohail Ahmad, alias Sohail Baloch. It alleged that they recruited and radicalised operatives by means of social media and encrypted platforms, established modules in India, and assigned native recruits to assault police institutions. The November 25, 2025, grenade assault was additionally recorded on a cell phone for publicity.
Bhatti has additionally been accused of orchestrating the November 2025 explosion on the Ladies Police Station in Sirsa and the January 2026 car-bomb blast on the Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala. Within the latter case, an arrested accused was discovered to keep up a correspondence with him.
The Delhi Police Particular Cell had registered 15 FIRs and arrested 69 accused since October 2025, two-thirds from Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. Most of them had been poorly educated, economically weak people recruited through social media for cash, Gulf relocation, or resolving private points. Financial incentives usually outweighed ideology. A number of handlers assigned recruits duties, together with reconnaissance, assaults, funding and logistics. The community’s Delhi-NCR targets included safety personnel, political workplaces, companies and activists. The police recognized 108 raid targets, initiated proceedings in opposition to 35 and recovered grenades, pistols, cartridges, petrol bombs, CCTV cameras and SIM playing cards.
Bishnoi rivalry
The officer stated his rivalry with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who belongs to Abohar in Punjab and is presently lodged on the Sabarmati jail in Gujarat, can be performed up by his followers on social media.
“The rivalry with Bishnoi was one of many causes he upped the poster conflict in Punjab,” stated the U.P police officer.
When the instances began spiralling, round 4 months in the past, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was tasked to coordinate with the State police to unearth the nexus.
Printed – August 17, 2026 09:51 pm IST
