Mohammad Nadeem from Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur, who was tasked by Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) with killing suspended BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, has been produced before the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) special court in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow.
Nadeem was picked up by the Anti-Terrorist Squad of Uttar Pradesh Police on Friday.
According to UP ATS, Nadeem was in touch with terror outfits JeM and Tehreek-e-Taliban in Pakistan through communication channels such as WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook Messenger.
The accused is a native of Kunda Kala village in the Gangoh police station area in Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Prashant Kumar said in a statement.
The ADGP claimed that the police recovered chats and voice messages from Nadeem's phone and these messages were traced to Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The accused was allegedly tasked with murdering Nupur Sharma, whose objectionable remark on Prophet Muhammad had triggered wide-spread protests and condemnation across the globe weeks ago.
During interrogation, Nadeem admitted that he had been in direct contact with JeM since 2018 and that the outfit had invited him over to Pakistan and Syria for special training.