India dismantles ISI-backed Shahzad Bhatti network, 253 held

Indian security agencies have dismantled the Pakistan-based Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN), arresting over 200 operatives in coordinated multi-state operations on August 12, Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced. The Ministry of Home Affairs said 253 people were detained across 14 states, including Uttar Pradesh (62), Haryana (52), Delhi (51), and Punjab (44). The operations were conducted using a real-time intelligence-sharing system with state police forces to thwart planned subversive attacks ahead of Independence Day.

The freepressjournal.in report states that over 80 FIRs and 200 arrests have been recorded under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita, the Arms Act, NDPS Act, and Explosive Substances Act. Recoveries include IEDs, grenades bearing Pakistan Ordnance Factory markings, pistols, live cartridges, and CCTV cameras used for espionage. According to the MHA, SBN is linked to grenade, IED, and petrol bomb attacks as well as targeted killings across India, and was paying local conduits to recce police, defence, and religious sites.

Times Now adds that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is probing multiple cases against Bhatti, including an alleged link to a March 2025 grenade attack at a social media influencer's residence in Jalandhar, Punjab. The NIA has also found that Bhatti masterminded explosions at a women's police station in Sirsa, Haryana, in November 2025, and at Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala, Haryana, in January 2026. In the Sirsa case, the NIA chargesheeted nine individuals, including Bhatti and another Pakistan-based handler, in May 2026.