PM Narendra Modi

AHMEDABAD: “Yeah, let’s take out Modi with a sniper rifle.” A chargesheet filed recently in an Ankleshwar court by the Gujarat ATS has attributed this statement to an associate of an alleged IS operative. The chargesheet says that the intention to target PM Narendra Modi was expressed in a conversation on a messaging app that was retrieved from the cellphone and pen drive of the IS suspect, Ubaid Mirza.

Mirza, who was a practising lawyer, and Kasim Stimberwala , working as lab technician in Sardar Patel Hospital and Heart Institute in Ankleshwar since March 2017— both residents of Surat — were arrested by the Gujarat ATS on October 25, 2017, from Ankleshwar.

“Stimberwala had resigned 21days before he was arrested and had planned to flee to Jamaica and join the jihadi mission under Shaikh Abdullah Al Faisal, a radical preacher,” an ATS official said.

Some IS suspects turned witnesses

Kasim Stimberwala had applied for a job at Pinnacle Healthcare Ltd in Jamaica. We have recovered a work permit valid from September 22, 2017, to September 21, 2019,” an ATS official said.

The chargesheet says that on September 10, 2016, at 11.24pm Mirza had messaged: “Pistol buy karna ho surely….then I will try to find a contact with him (If a pistol is to be bought, I will try to find a contact with him)”. Who was being referred to as “him” is not clear.

According to the chargesheet, at about 11.28pm, Mirza received a reply from a social media contact calling himself `Ferrari': “Yeah, let’s take Modi out with a sniper rifle.”

“All IS suspects, some of whom later became witnesses in the case, used to share such messages on a social media group called ‘AUT’ ( Ansar-Ul-Tawheed),” a senior ATS official said. “We have recorded statements of witnesses under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to corroborate the messages.”



In Video: Chargesheet filed by Gujarat ATS reveals plot to assassinate PM Modi