Shahzad Bhatti, the Pakistani gangster at the centre of the recent nationwide counter-terror operation, is also a social media influencer.

During the operation ahead of Independence Day, security agencies had arrested over 200 operatives linked to the Shahzad Bhatti Network, which is backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Bhatti, who speaks Punjabi and regularly posts videos on Instagram and Facebook, currently operates from the UAE. Over the past one year, he has graduated from “organised crime” to “terror-related activities”, at the behest of the ISI, government sources told The Hindu. Several of his Instagram accounts ending in “333” have been taken down in India.

His earliest association with criminal activities in India started from Punjab and soon spread across 14 States – Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Karnataka, Gujarat, Bihar, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala.

Searches in June

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered three cases allegedly involving Bhatti. In June, it searched 18 locations across Punjab and Haryana in connection with terror-gangster network cases linked to him, questioned suspects, seized communication devices, and examined financial transactions.

Describing his modus operandi, a U.P police officer said, “Bhatti contacted young men on social media who liked or commented on his posts. He offered them anything between ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 to put up posters with his image at public places. The posters were meant to instil fear in locals and create a name for him as a gangster. Gradually, he moved from posters to luring young men to throw grenades and plant explosives around critical installations.”

The money was sent directly to the bank accounts of the individuals, primarily from central Asian countries. Since the amount was small, the transactions were not always flagged as suspicious by the banking channels.

After assessing the length a person could go for money, he would assign them other tasks such as placing Chinese-made CCTV cameras outside railway stations, air bases and arterial roads. Their footage would be directly relayed to Pakistan through live-streaming, the officer said.

“In one case, he guided a few men in Punjab on how to make a petrol bomb and an IED by sending them online manuals. In some cases, money was the motivation, while in other cases, the religious sentiments were exploited,” said the officer.

Another police officer said that though he started as a petty gangster, the Pakistani ISI leveraged his identity to lure his contacts in India. “Soon, it was not only restricted to posters, the Pakistani ISI dropped pistols, ammunition and even narcotics in border areas and used young men as couriers,” said the officer.

On June 27, the Rajasthan Police arrested Krish Rai, 20, for allegedly recording videos of the Hanumangarh and Raisinghnagar police stations on his mobile phone and sending the clip along with exact location to a user who identified himself as Bhatti.

According to the NIA, Bhatti masterminded the March 2025 grenade attack on the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Jalandhar. In April 2026, it chargesheeted him as an absconder, along with another accused. The State police had earlier arrested and charged nine others in the case.

Bhatti has also been accused of orchestrating the November 2025 explosion at the Women Police Station in Sirsa and the January 2026 car-bomb blast at the Baldev Nagar police station in Ambala. In the latter case, an arrested accused was found to be in contact with him.

In May 2026, the NIA named nine accused in the Sirsa case, including Bhatti and another Pakistan-based handler Sohail Ahmad, alias Sohail Baloch. It alleged that they recruited and radicalised operatives through social media and encrypted platforms, established modules in India, and assigned local recruits to attack police establishments. The November 25, 2025, grenade attack was also recorded on a mobile phone for publicity.

Bishnoi rivalry

The officer said his rivalry with jailed gangster Lawrence Bishnoi, who belongs to Abohar in Punjab and is presently lodged at the Sabarmati prison in Gujarat, is also played up by his followers on social media.

“The rivalry with Bishnoi was one of the reasons he upped the poster war in Punjab,” said the U.P police officer.

When the cases started spiralling, around four months ago, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) was tasked to coordinate with the State police to unearth the nexus.

Published - August 17, 2026 09:51 pm IST