JeM terrorist tasked with killing Nupur Sharma arrested, says UP Police

New Delhi: The Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday arrested an alleged terrorist linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed, who was tasked with carrying out a ‘fidayeen’ attack on suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma.

Accused Mohammad Nadeem (25) is a native of Kunda Kala village under Gangoh police station area in Saharanpur district, Uttar Pradesh Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said in a statement.

The ADGP claimed that the police recovered chats and voice messages from Nadeem’s phone and these messages were traced to Pakistan and Afghanistan. Two SIM cards and literature on preparing various kinds bombs were also recovered from him.

He has been booked under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at ATS police station in Lucknow, the statement said.

During interrogation, Nadeem admitted that he was in direct contact with JeM since 2018 and that the outfit had invited him over to Pakistan and Syria for special training, the statement said, adding he had been waiting for a visa.

In a prime time debate on the Gyanvapi Masjid issue on a national television channel on 27 May, Sharma had made derogatory remarks against Prophet Muhammed that had caused widespread outrage both in India and in Islamic countries prompting the BJP to suspend her as its national spokesperson.

Since then FIRs were filed against the now-suspended BJP spokesperson across different states, she has received death threats and those who came out in support of her were either criticised, attacked or killed.

Not the first time

While more details are awaited about the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Tehrik-e-Taliban plan, this is not the first time that calls have been made and plots hatched to kill Sharma.

On 11 August, four persons were arrested after slogans were raised to decapitate – ‘Sar tan se juda’ – Sharma during a Muharram procession in Uttar Pradesh’s Jaunpur district.

Similarly, on 19 July, a Pakistani national, Rizwan Ashraf, crossed over to India with an 11-inch knife via the international border allegedly to kill Sharma. He was held in Sri Ganga Nagar district of Rajasthan.

On 7 July, Nuh Police, Punjab, booked a man for allegedly declaring a Rs 2 crore reward for cutting off Sharma’s tongue.

A khadim (keeper) of Ajmer Dargah Salman Chishti was arrested on 6 July for offering his house to anyone who beheads Sharma for her remark.

In a video, the cleric purportedly said he would give his house to anyone who brings Sharma’s head to him and is heard saying that he would have shot her dead for insulting Prophet Mohammad.

With input from agencies

Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .