The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has found approximately 30 young men in Mumbai, all under the age of 20, who came in contact with Pakistan-based gangster Shehzad Bhatti through Instagram, according to officials.
Bhatti allegedly used a "gaming mission" model to identify, test, and gradually recruit these youngsters, assigning them tasks that appeared harmless at first before attempting to escalate them into more sensitive assignments.
Attempt to trap youths through daily tasks
The youths were initially given simple, task-based assignments, similar to levels in an online game, designed to test whether they would follow instructions without asking questions.
The first set of tasks involved asking them to click photographs or record short videos of public places, government buildings, and police stations, which were framed deliberately as routine activity to avoid raising suspicion.
Investigation further revealed that none of the 30 Mumbai youths actually carried out these instructions. In one instance, Bhatti allegedly asked a youth to photograph a police station in Haryana. The youth never visited the location or completed the task, and officials believe no further instructions were sent to him once he ignored the assignment.
How the module was busted
While most of the identified youths refused to act, officials have flagged one case where the tasks are believed to have progressed well beyond simple reconnaissance. Krishna Mishra, 20, one of two men recently arrested by the Uttar Pradesh ATS, was allegedly instructed by Bhatti's network to film a sensitive installation.
Mishra and his co-accused, Daniyal Ashraf, were arrested for allegedly maintaining links with the Pakistan-based handlers and carrying out their work. Officials said Mishra photographed Narpoli Police Station in Bhiwandi and recorded an 18-second video of a nearby bridge, both of which were allegedly shared with handlers in Pakistan.
Digital evidence recovered from the accused's phones reportedly included encrypted chats, video calls, reconnaissance footage, and records of financial transactions.
Shehzad Bhatti's wider network
Investigators say that Bhatti didn't operate alone. His associates, named as Abid Jatt alias Abid Chhal, Ajmal Gujar, Hammad Memon, Rana Hunain, and Ashraf Bashir Alam, were also allegedly involved in reaching out to young people through Instagram and other social media platforms.
Officials had recently questioned 66 other youths from Pune over similar contact with Bhatti's network, and the discovery of another 30 in Mumbai has put security agencies on further alert.
Officials investigating the case believe Bhatti's network is deliberately working through social media to condition young recruits, with the eventual aim of pulling them into activities like intelligence gathering, drug trafficking, or other anti-national work.
In May, the Maharashtra ATS carried out coordinated searches across more than 40 locations in Mumbai and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region as part of a broader crackdown on individuals suspected of links to Bhatti and other Pakistan-based gangster networks.
The agency is continuing its forensic analysis of seized devices and digital communications to identify additional operatives, financial connections, and foreign handlers tied to the network, and has advised young people to stay alert to such contact online.
