Member of terrorist outfit identified himself as Hindu in custody: Police

Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], July 15 (ANI): A member of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), a terror outfit, Saddam Sheikh claimed to be a Hindu during 14 days of police custody, said officials.
Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) UP said that during the police remand, terror suspect Saddam identified himself as Ranjit Singh, a resident of Tarabganj town in Lucknow's Gonda district.
Further investigation revealed that Saddam had converted to Islam in 1999 and had become Saddam Sheikh after coming in contact with a Muslim family in Mumbai, officials said.
After becoming Sheikh, Saddam started working as a truck driver in a Bangalore firm.
Saddam Sheikh got married to a Muslim woman and wanted to kill his wife's lover and his family in 2020 after suspecting his wife to be in an extra-marital affair, officials said.
Thereafter, he made an unsuccessful attempt to secure weapons to kill his wife's lover and his family, the officials said, adding that in 2020, Saddam Sheikh got himself radicalised and joined Al Qaeda.
It was found that Saddam would try to get in touch with terror outfits by posting Jihadi content on his Facebook page under the fictitious name of Syeda Mariyam Syeda Mahira, police said, adding that infuenced by Saddam's assertions that he was a Mujahiddeen and a Jehadi, even the Pakistani terrorists also got in touch with him.
Monitoring of social media accounts and electronic surveillance also revealed that Saddam Sheikh self-radicalized and spoke with militants in Pakistan via IMO, officials said.
Saddam called himself Hizbul Mujahideen Saddam on the Imo group and became radicalised through several social media platforms such as IMO, Facebook, and YouTube, officials said, adding that he even posted photos of Osama Bin Laden and uploaded purported terror training videos.
Saddam Sheikh was in direct contact with many terrorists from Pakistan and Kashmir, officials added further.
Further, according to officials, Saddam planned to use a truck in a lone-wolf attack during a religious event in Bengaluru. The idea for the attack hit him after he browsed videos of similar attacks in France and Germany in 2016, officials added. (ANI)