It started with a scroll.
A like. A DM. A game invite.
Then a photo of a police station. A temple. A crowded market.
And suddenly, a 22-year-old in Punjab was allegedly planning a terror strike in Delhi.
This is the story India woke up to today.
On Friday, the Rajasthan ATS fanned out across the state.
Jaipur. Ajmer. Churu. Dungarpur. Barmer. A dozen more cities.
30 suspects picked up for questioning.
The common thread? A single Pakistani handler sitting across the border.
His name: Shahzad Bhatti.
On Instagram, he looked like just another flashy Pakistani influencer.
Guns. Cars. Gangster vibes. Big follower count.
But Indian agencies say the reels were the bait.
Behind the glam — an ISI-linked recruitment machine stretching across north India.
👉 A biryani seller. A ginger vendor. A money lender.
All allegedly pulled into the same web. Some already arrested.
ATS officials laid it out plainly. Bhatti hooks young Indians with:
Then the ask gets darker.
Send a photo of that police station.
Recce this temple.
Try this foreign SIM so no one traces us.
Just a day earlier, Delhi Police Special Cell busted an alleged interstate arms-and-terror module.
Four Punjab men arrested — ages 22 to 28.
One of them had allegedly scouted police posts and religious sites in Delhi.
The module, cops say, was minutes away from becoming a headline of a very different kind.
All four reported to the same handler: Bhatti.
SP Manish Tripathi kept it clinical.
Phones seized. Chats mirrored. Bank accounts pulled.
If the link was just social media — devices returned, person let go.
If the trail runs deeper — the questioning gets sharper.
And some, he admitted, are already looking suspicious.
Remember Babita alias Khadija?
Arrested in Jaipur last year. Allegedly married a Jaish commander online. Was planning to flee to Pakistan.
Same pattern. Same funnel. Same weapon — a smartphone.
The border isn't just a line on a map anymore.
It runs through DMs, group chats, and gaming lobbies.
And India's new frontline isn't a fence.
It's a phone screen in the hands of a bored 20-year-old.
That's all for now!
