The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a 33-year-old man suspected of having links with the banned terrorist organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) from Mumbai Mahim area, officials said.

The accused, identified as Mohammad Hasan Abu Sarmad Akhtar, was apprehended by the Kalachowki unit of the Maharashtra ATS near Mahim Metro station following a tip-off.

According to the investigating agency, the accused used his work as a Rapido rider and perfume seller as a cover while propagating radical ideology.

The ATS alleged that he was attempting to spread communal hatred and anti-national sentiments through various social media platforms. Investigators also recovered material allegedly linked to such activities from his mobile phone.

According to the agency, the accused operated a Telegram group where he allegedly uploaded inflammatory audio speeches by Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar on the Babri Masjid and other issues on June 1. The ATS also claimed that he was an active member of a Pakistan-backed extremist Telegram channel called ‘IBN-e-Qasim’.

The arrest comes months after the Gujarat ATS detained five people in July during an investigation into an alleged terror module linked to JeM.

The five accused were identified as Bilal Abidbhai Shera, Mohammad Ayub Kadiwala, Mohammad Palanpuri alias Khali Ayub Sunsara, Shafia Rais Mukhti and Mohammad Hasan Kardia. They were arrested from Khadiyal village in Siddhpur taluka of Gujarat’s Patan district.

Officials said the five suspects came under the scanner during the investigation into eight alleged JeM operatives arrested earlier that month.

The accused were produced before Judicial Magistrate R.M. Bhatia in Kadi town of Mehsana district, who remanded them to ATS custody until July 24.

Public Prosecutor P.R. Dantani told the court that custodial interrogation was necessary to investigate the alleged activities of the accused. He had claimed that one of them had attempted to make a time bomb and that investigators were yet to recover bomb-making materials and Urdu literature linked to the JeM.

Speaking to reporters, Dantani had said the names of the five accused had emerged during the investigation. He added that the ATS wanted to determine the source of the alleged bomb-making materials, where they had been concealed, and how the accused obtained jihadi literature associated with the banned outfit.

Investigators were also seeking information about where the literature had been stored.

An FIR has been registered against unidentified persons after two posters against the government were found pasted inside a train on the Delhi Metro’s Airport Express Line, police said on Saturday.

The FIR was registered under Sections of the Delhi Prevention of Defacement of Public Property Act, 2007, and the Metro Railway (Operations and Maintenance) Act, 2002.

“The black-and-white posters raised various issues and listed nine claims about changes in the country over recent years. They also carried a QR code inviting people to join an online group,” police said.

Officials said that police seized the posters, and the Special Cell is also involved in the investigation.

This comes amid the anti-Election Commission of India (ECI) protests in the National Capital over the alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Several Opposition parties, student activists, as well as the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP) organised protests across the city demanding a rollback of the SIR protest and resignation of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar.

Meanwhile, the INDIA Bloc has scheduled a mega rally against ‘vote chori’ on November 1 in New Delhi.

All India Congress Committee General Secretary, K.C. Venugopal on Friday said the party held high-level meetings with senior leaders from Uttar Pradesh and Haryana to intensify mobilisation for the rally.

In a post on X, Venugopal said that he, along with Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, met AICC in-charge for Uttar Pradesh Rajendra Pal Gautam, UP PCC president Aradhana Misra Mona and other senior leaders from the state to discuss strategies for building large-scale participation in the rally.

The November 1 rally is being projected as one of the largest mobilisations by the Opposition alliance in recent times, with a special focus on drawing participation from northern states.

The Congress has appealed to supporters and citizens concerned about democratic processes to join the march and the Ramleela Maidan gathering in large numbers.

In a matter related to fugitive don Dawood Ibrahim’s brother, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) lodged an FIR seeking action against miscreants who trespassed a Thane flat that was attached earlier in connection with an extortion case registered against Iqbal Ibrahim Kaskar, an officials said on Friday.

The flat was attached by the ED in 2022 during money laundering investigation in a case relating to extortion by accused Iqbal Kaskar, younger brother of underworld don Dawood, who is suspected to be in Pakistan, the official said in a statement.

The FIR was filed as a deterrent action against miscreants for trespassing the “confirmed attached properties” in the possession of the ED’s Mumbai Zonal Office-I, it said.

“The FIR was lodged on October 15 after restoring the possession of a flat in Thane (West) under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002,” the ED said.

“In respect of the alleged unauthorised entry and interference with the attached property, an FIR dated October 15 has been registered at Kasarvadavali Police Station in Thane under Sections 329(4) and 223 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, so that the matter is investigated and trespassers are punished,” the ED added.

The property was provisionally attached vide provisional attachment order dated April 8, 2022, during money laundering investigation in the extortion case against Iqbal Kaskar and others, it said.

The provisional attachment was subsequently confirmed by the Adjudicating Authority under Section 8(3) of the PMLA vide order dated September 29, 2022, and possession of the flat was also taken by the ED on December 17, 2024, under Section 8(4) of the PMLA, the statement said.

The ED investigation was initiated on the basis of FIR registered at Kasarvadavali Police Station in Thane, concerning allegations of extortion against, inter alia, Iqbal Kaskar, Mumtaz Azaz Sheikh alias Raju, Israr Ali Jamil Saiyad and others.

During investigation, it was revealed that pursuant to threats and extortion, flats were demanded to be registered in favour of or at the instance of the accused persons, the ED said.

In this context, Flat No. 405 was registered in the name of Mumtaz Azaz Sheikh on May 29, the ED said.

It came to notice that some people had entered the property, broken the lock and removed the ED’s possession notice, the statement said.

The ED conducted inspections and took necessary steps to safeguard the attached property.

The matter was also placed before the Special PMLA Court, which also directed the ED to restore the possession with police assistance, if required.

In compliance and also to safeguard the property, the lock of said flat was changed in presence of police personnel and witnesses and the possession of the said flat was restored, the ED said.

A fresh notice was also affixed on the premises clearly mentioning that any aggrieved person may either approach the office of the ED or the court where the trial of the case is being conducted, it added.