The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed charges against eight accused, including Pakistani gangster-turned-terrorist Shehzad Bhatti, in connection with the IED car bomb blast in the parking area of Ambala’s Baldev Nagar police station in January this year.

Bhatti, wanted in other terrorist cases too, and seven arrested Indian nationals have been chargesheeted under relevant sections of UA (P) Act 1967, BNS 2023, The Explosive Substances Act 1908, The Telecommunication Act 2023, according to an official statement from the Agency.

Besides Bhatti, other chargesheeted accused have been identified as Karamjit Singh @ Tony, Akash, Soureb @ Sobi @ Sourab, Raman Kumar, Satyam, Sukhdev Singh @ Sukha, Amarjeet Singh @ Ambi.

In the chargesheet filed before the Special NIA Court in Panchkula (Haryana), the anti-terror agency has detailed the roles of the accused and the conspiracy orchestrated by Bhatti to attack Police Station Baldev Nagar in Ambala (Haryana) with the aim of spreading terror among the people by targeting police establishments.

The Pakistani terrorist had established operational modules in India, and assigned local operatives to arrange logistics and explosive substances for carrying out attacks at police establishments as part of the conspiracy, as per NIA’s findings released in the official statement. Akash was Bhatti’s principal India-based operative, responsible for coordinating the attacks with co-accused.

The Baldev Nagar police station was targeted following reconnaissance of potential targets, NIA found during investigation. Some of the accused had parked the car, packed with gas cylinders and explosive substances, in the police station premises and even videographed the scene for dissemination and publicity.

NIA investigation further revealed that Bhatti had recruited and radicalised the accused through social media platforms and encrypted communication channels. It also established, through various digital, electronic, documentary and forensic evidence, that the accused had remained in touch with the handler during the planned attack.

NIA, which continues with its investigation in the case, has uncovered a chain of recruitment, financing, operational coordination, procurement of explosive substances, and execution of the terrorist act by the accused on Bhatti’s directions.