2 held by ATS

Calldetailrecordsshowedqasmihadbeen in touch with a mobile number registered in the name of Vaseem Arifbhai Ramodia of Nehru Nagar, Raiya Road, Rajkot. Surveillance of Vaseem’s phone revealed that “he was into ultra-radical jihadi ideology as preached by the ISIS,” says the FIR.

According to the FIR, “the brothers were planning to conduct a lone-wolf terrorist attack and a blast of Improvised Explosive Device in immediate future”. The brothers’ mother and Vaseem’s wife knew about their alleged “terror plans”, the FIR says. Vaseem has a one-year-old daughter.

In Rajkot, the father of the accused, Arif Ramodia, claimed he knew nothing about his sons’ alleged terror links until police raided his home in the city’s Nehrunagar area late on Saturday night.

“I know nothing about them having any terror links. Both my sons have studied computer science. While the elder, Vaseem, lived with us and did graphic designing work, the younger, Naeem, lived in Bhavnagar, and was a scrap dealer,” Arif Ramodia, who retired last year as a senior clerk of the physical education department of Saurashtra University, Rajkot, said.

“Policemen came past midnight and arrested Vaseem. They also seized a knife, an axe and some material which they claimed is an explosive. They have not allowed me to meet my sons,” Arif Ramodia said.

Himanshu Shah, media manager of the Saurashtra Cricket Association, said Ramodia “has passed an umpiring examination and has been officiating in our district-level matches for the last six-seven years”. “His association with us is like that of a freelancer,” Shah said.

Shah also said Vaseem and Naeem could have played cricket at the district level, and SCA was going through its records to verify if they had indeed done so. Sources close to the family said the brothers were struggling to find regular employment.

According to the ATS, the arrests are the first of their kind in Gujarat. The brothers have been charged with conspiracy to wage war against India, and under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and Explosive Substances Act.

Investigators have found PDF files in the brothers’ computers and mobile phones that allegedly describe ways to make bombs with alarm clocks, material extracted from firecrackers, decoration lamps and elbow pipes, etc. A manual on detonation by remote control, and resource manual for guerrilla tactics andweaponstraininghavealsobeenallegedly found in their phones.

One “GF 22 9V” battery for transistor radios, 58 grammes of explosive substance (extracted from firecrackers), residue of firecrackers, and 10 firecrackers commonly known as “sutli bombs” have been recovered. Police said that “various applications are found in the mobile phone from Vaseem wherein chats with other radical elements have been found”.

In its 12-page FIR, the ATS has cited several alleged web-based chats between Vaseem and his unknown ISIS handler, where he purportedly said he was ready for “muqammal kaam”, or complete work.

Officialssaidsurveillancehadrevealedthat Vaseemandnaeemwereinregulartouchand, according to the FIR, “both discussed various development pertaining to ISIS. Tone and tenor of the telephonic talks between the brothers clearly indicate that both the brothers are highly influenced by the Caliphate and wish to be part of the so-called crusade against non-believers.” In a seized laptop, 173 files of “bayaans” of Mufti Qasmi were found, the FIR says.

The FIR mentions “audio calls recovered from the mobile phone of the accused which are in Kutchchi dialect”. In one of the clips, Vaseem is allegedly heard telling his wife Shehjeen that “he had come to a place in Chotila and waiting for the work to be done”. According to the FIR, “Shehjeen tells Vaseem that you should tell him (the handler) that you can’t do this work alone and you should not do this work under his pressure.”

Vaseem allegedly used the ID “Ninja Fox” on Telegram, an end-to-end encrypted chat platform, to communicate with his handler, “One Goal”. ATS officials have also allegedly recovered eight issues of Dabiq, the Islamic State’s propaganda magazine, from Vaseem’s laptop, and one hard copy of the magazine for the month of Ramadan, issue No. 1435. “Photographs and videos of heinous acts of savagery committed by terrorists of ISIS and its ideology have also been recovered from Vaseem’s laptop,” the FIR says.

“We are investigating everything at this moment,” SP (ATS) Himanshu Shukla said.