Shehzad Bhatti Emerges As New Threat To India, Warns Kulkarni
Mumbai: Indian security agencies are confronting a new threat from across the border: a Pakistan-based gangster who uses social media to recruit young Indians for violence, according to former Special Director General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Atulchandra Kulkarni. Speaking exclusively to The Free Press Journal, the retired IPS officer, who also served in Maharashtra ATS and the…
Mumbai has been grappling with a new threat from Pakistan, according to former NIA Special Director General Atulchandra Kulkarni. The threat comes from a Pakistan-based gangster named Shahzad Bhatti, who has developed a network of followers through social media. Kulkarni, who has experience in Maharashtra ATS and Intelligence Bureau, warns that Bhatti recruits young Indian men from poor or lower-middle-class backgrounds, often those struggling with drug addiction or drawn to gun culture.
Bhatti's network, known as the Bhatti network or SBN, has reportedly drawn over 300 Indian youths into its fold. The network allegedly received instructions and payments through the darknet. The Union Home Minister, Amit Shah, claimed that a major terror attack planned by Bhatti was foiled just before Independence Day. Kulkarni attributes this to the Union Home Ministry's improved intelligence sharing and the Multi-Agency Centre.
The network's connections to the ISI and Mumbai underworld figures like Munna Zingada add to the security concern. Experts warn that online radicalisation is a growing challenge, as lone-wolf attackers, radicalized on their own, can strike without detection.
Written by urgent.news from Free Press Journal's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
