india

Updated: Sep 13, 2018 18:57 IST

An alleged member of Hizbul Mujahideen who planned to attack a temple during Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations in Kanpur was arrested on Thursday by the anti-terrorism squad of Uttar Pradesh police, a senior official said.

Director general of police OP Singh said Qamar-uz-Zama alias Dr Huraira confessed during an interrogation that he had conducted a reconnaissance of the Siddhi Vinayak temple in Collectorganj after his handlers ordered him to attack it.

Singh said the National Investigation Agency (NIA) was tracking Zama since April this year after he posted his photograph holding an AK-47 assault rifle on social media. “It was then that he came on the radar of intelligence and security agencies,” Singh said during a press conference.

The central agency was tracking the 38-year-old’s movement since then and tipped off the state’s anti-terrorism squad about his location in Shivnagar locality of the city’s Chakeri area after spotting him there, Singh said.

The senior official said Zama, a resident of Jamunamukh in Assam’s Hojai district, lived in different locations in the state and country in the past few months. He was living in a rented accommodation in Kanpur for the last ten days before he was arrested.

He said the ATS has recovered a mobile phone with pictures and approach routes of the temple.

The officer said Zama told the police he is an active member of Hizbul Mujahideen since April last year when he underwent a training in Kishtwar of Jammu and Kashmir. Zama said a person named Osama roped him in the terror group and organised his training before assigning any task.

Singh added Zama, a diploma holder in a computer course, was trained to carry out any kind of terrorist activity and was pursuing graduation from a college in Assam. Zama will be questioned by NIA, ATS, the Intelligence Bureau as well as other agencies, he said.