 "The Jammu and Kashmir police conducted raids in over 300 locations in Kulgam district on Wednesday. File image/PTI")
GV Sudeep Chakravarthy, a doctor-turned-police officer’s intuition about incriminating posters across Srinagar, led to the largest bust of a terror module that had its reach throughout the country.
The Jaish-e-Mohammed posters appeared along the streets of Nowgam-Bunpora in Srinagar, warning security officials of “dire consequences”. While they were mostly ignored by residents of the area, SSP Chakravarthy saw a deeper plot in them.
What actions did he take?
By dawn, a case had been registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Explosive Substances Act, and the Arms Act at the Nowgam police station. A frame-by-frame review of CCTV footage identified three men, who were subsequently detained. Their interrogation pointed to one name, Moulvi Irfan Ahmad of Shopian, who had been leading prayers at the Nowgam mosque since 2020.
The preacher’s home was then searched thoroughly, while another resident was being examined simultaneously. Ahmad’s digital footprints pointed the police to a much larger terror network that expanded beyond Jammu and Kashmir.
A police team was quickly dispatched, and in a coordinated follow-up operation, authorities took into custody Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, a Pulwama native working at a medical college in Faridabad, for his alleged links to the Jaish network. What began as a routine probe into wall posters soon uncovered a sophisticated, cross-state “white-collar” module.
Who is SSP Chakravarthy?
For all his credit for unravelling a terror network, Chakravarthy’s professional career is a decorated one. Born in Kallur in Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool, he is from the 2014 batch of IPS officers.
The son of retired government medical officer Dr G. V. Rama Gopal Rao and health department official P. C. Rangamma, he earned his medical degree from Kurnool Medical College in 2010. After a brief stint practising medicine there, he joined the police force.
On August 14, he received his sixth President’s Police Medal for Gallantry in recognition of his role in multiple anti-terror operations in Jammu and Kashmir. He assumed charge as Srinagar’s Senior Superintendent of Police on April 21 this year.
The wall-poster probe has since become one of his most complex investigations — one that allegedly peeled back layers of radicalisation and exposed an unlikely nexus linking a cleric, medical professionals, and militant networks.