ATS arrests 33-year-old near Mahim Metro station over alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed links

The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested a man named Mohammed Hasan Abu Sarmad Akhtar, 33, near Mahim Metro station in Mumbai. He is accused of alleged links with Jaish-e-Mohammed. The ATS picked him up from Laxmi Building, near the Mahim Metro station.

According to the ATS, provocative posts were found on the accused's mobile phone, along with messages supporting jihad. Audio clips of Masood Azhar were also recovered from the phone, as were call recordings and speeches of Azhar. The ATS is acting against him on this basis. The agency also found anti-national material on the phone.

According to the information available, Akhtar is originally from Bihar and has been living in Mumbai for the past 10 years. In Mahim, he sold attar near 'Baba Falooda'. He also worked for the bike taxi company Rapido, doing both jobs as a Rapido rider and an attar seller.

The ATS says he was spreading radical ideology while doing this work. He also tried to spread communal hatred through social media. According to the ATS, he ran a Telegram group, and through it he forwarded inflammatory speeches by Maulana Masood Azhar on June 1, 2026. The ATS has also said he was active on a Pakistan-backed channel called 'Ibn-e-Qasim'.

The Kalachowki unit of the Mumbai ATS has registered a case against the accused under Section 196(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. The section deals with promoting enmity between different groups on grounds such as religion or language. Cases of disturbing social harmony are also linked to it. On Friday, a court sent the accused to police custody. The ATS is now examining his mobile phone, his social media activity and his role in the Telegram group.

Masood Azhar's name has been linked to several terror cases in India. Azhar, the head of Jaish, was arrested in Anantnag in Jammu and Kashmir in 1994. In December 1999, an Indian Airlines aircraft (IC-814) flying from Kathmandu to Delhi was hijacked and taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.