Saharanpur man, tasked to kill Nupur Sharma, produced in court
Mohammad Nadeem of Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, who was allegedly entrusted by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to kill the suspended Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Nupur Sharma, has been presented before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) special court in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow. He was arrested by the Uttar Pradesh Police's Anti-Terrorist Squad on Friday.
Why does this story matter?
BJP's now-suspended spokesperson Sharma had made alleged derogatory remarks about Prophet Mohammad during a TV channel debate on the Gyanvapi Mosque issue. Her remarks sparked uproar and elicited responses from religious organizations, political parties, and Gulf countries, prompting the BJP to suspend her. Many violent reactions were also reported in the country after which Supreme Court slammed Sharma and blamed her for the violence.
What did the Police officials say?
According to Uttar Pradesh ATS, Nadeem communicated with terror organizations JeM and Tehreek-e-Taliban in Pakistan using messaging apps like as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger. The accused is a resident of Kunda Kala village in the Gangoh police station area of Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur district, according to Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar.
Messages, voice chats from Nadeem's phone traced to Pakistan, Afghanistan
According to the ADGP, the police found digital and internet evidence against Nadeem. He said that Nadeem's phone conversations and voice messages were tracked to Pakistan and Afghanistan. He stated that the evidence indicated that the accused was entrusted with killing Sharma after her controversial statement about Prophet Muhammad sparked significant outrage and condemnation throughout the world weeks ago.
Accused admitted to have contact with JeM since 2018: Police
Police alleged that Nadeem allegedly admitted to being in contact with JeM since 2018 and that the group had invited him to Pakistan and Syria for specific training. According to the UP ATS, Nadeem had direct touch with Saifullah, the commander of the Tehrik-i-Taliban in Pakistan (TTP). They said Saifullah gave Nadeem the order to assassinate Sharma and spoke with him using code language.
'ISIS wanted to build new module in UP, Uttarakhand'
According to officials, the forensic team is now investigating the evidence. ATS said Saifullah transferred multiple encrypted files to Nadeem, which the investigating agencies were attempting to decrypt. According to them, Saifullah was establishing a new module in UP and Uttarakhand at the request of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), and he assigned the task to Nadeem.
