LeT may target politicians in Delhi

New Delhi: Terror outfit Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) is conspiring to target some ‘high-value targets (HVT)’, particularly political leaders in the national capital, even planning their possible kidnapping, to secure the release of some top militants.

Highly-placed intelligence  sources revealed that the responsibility for this daring operation has been assigned to  top Lashkar commander, Javed Baluchi, who is said to operating out of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).

Intelligence agencies have been tracking activities of Baluchi for the past few months and, during the course of investigation, smashed an LeT module in the NCR region last week with the arrest of a key operative, Moham­med Shahid, from Nuh in Mewat area of Haryana. Baluchi is said to be a close confidant of Lashkar and Jamaat-ud-Dawa founder Hafiz Saeed, who has directed him to supervise the formation of terror modules in the NCR region for this purpose.

Sources claimed investigations, which are currently spanning across Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, have revealed that Baluchi is busy setting up a network of terror modules in and around Delhi that would target ‘HVT or key individuals’ with the sole intention of spreading panic close to the Lok Sabha elections scheduled early next year.

There are reports that Baluchi and his associates may even try and kidnap some high-profile persons to try and secure the release of some important terrorists lodged in jails across the country. “They plan something on the lines of the IC814 hijacking where India was forced to release dreaded militants, including Jaish-e-Mohammed chief Maulana Masood Azhar,” a senior intelligence official said.

Both Central intelligence agencies as well as the Delhi police’s special cell had been tracking phone calls made by Baluchi to his associates in and around Delhi.