Centre Declares Shahzad Bhatti Network a Terrorist Organisation Under UAPA

NEW DELHI — The Union Ministry of Home Affairs on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, formally designated the Shahzad Bhatti Network as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, adding it as the 46th entry in the First Schedule of the Act, which lists banned terrorist outfits. The move, notified in the Official Gazette of India, invoked Section 35(1)(a) of the UAPA and follows months of coordinated law enforcement action against the network across more than a dozen Indian states.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah announced the designation on social media platform X, framing it as a direct continuation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's stated policy on counter-terrorism. "Pursuing PM Shri Narendra Modi Ji's vision of zero tolerance against terror, the MHA declares the Shahzad Bhatti Network as a terrorist organisation under the UAPA," Shah wrote. He went on to describe the group's activities in detail: "The group is involved in smuggling of arms, explosives and narcotics across borders, apart from inciting youths and petty criminals into terrorism. Targeting India's democratic structure and the fabric of communal harmony, the syndicate also published hateful digital content."

What the Gazette Notification Says

According to the official notification, the government's stated objective in banning the network was to formally block an organisation it says has been actively working to "involve gullible youth and local criminals to smuggle arms, explosives, and narcotics from across the border," while posing what the ministry called a serious threat to India's democratic system, communal harmony and internal security. The notification specifically alleged that SBN promoted terrorism through violent activities aimed at disrupting public order and relied on digital communication platforms to circulate provocative and hateful messages.

The gazette order also referenced the broader legal trail already built against the network, noting that several criminal cases have been registered against alleged SBN cadres across different jurisdictions in India, invoking provisions not just of the UAPA but also the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Arms Act, the Explosives Act, the Information Technology Act, and the Prevention of Defacement of Property Act. That range of charges reflects how the network's alleged activities span everything from weapons smuggling to online radicalisation and vandalism-linked offences.

Who Is Shahzad Bhatti, and Where Is He Operating From

Shahzad Bhatti is described by Indian security agencies as a Pakistan-based operative with direct backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency, though investigators say he has not stayed confined to Pakistan itself. 

One case investigators cite as illustrative involves a 19-year-old named Vikas Prajapati, who was allegedly directed via online contact to collect a bag of grenades left near a highway in Punjab's Gurdaspur district and told to attack a local police station. According to officials cited, this kind of remote-handling model has allowed Bhatti to build what one source described as an "army of hundreds of gullible youths," using online presence and small financial incentives rather than direct physical recruitment.

Officials quoted in that reporting suggested Pakistan has a pattern of moving high-risk assets out of the country once international scrutiny increases, particularly given Pakistan's continued sensitivity to monitoring by the Financial Action Task Force, the global anti-money-laundering watchdog. Under that pressure, officials said, Pakistan has reportedly applied a similar relocation approach to other proscribed groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba, not just to Bhatti individually.

The August Crackdown That Preceded the Ban

Wednesday's formal UAPA designation caps off a crackdown that had already been underway for over a month. On August 12, 2026, Indian security agencies carried out a coordinated multi-state operation, using a real-time intelligence-sharing system with state police forces, that resulted in 253 people being detained across 14 states in connection with the network. Of those detained, more than 200 were formally arrested, and the operation was tied to over 80 First Information Reports registered against the network nationwide.

The state-by-state breakdown of that August crackdown, Uttar Pradesh accounting for the highest number of detentions at 62, followed by Haryana with 52, Delhi with 51, and Punjab with 44. Rajasthan recorded 15 detentions, Maharashtra eight, and Uttarakhand five, while Karnataka, Gujarat and Bihar each recorded three, and Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Kerala each recorded two. Fresh FIRs were also registered in both Delhi and Karnataka as part of the same operation.

Announcing that earlier action, Shah had struck a similarly assertive tone, writing on X that "the Modi govt destroyed the ISI-backed terror group Shahzad Bhatti Network ahead of Independence Day and thwarted its plans for subversive attacks by arresting more than 200 operatives," and crediting Indian security forces with having "ripped apart the network by launching coordinated operations across different locations in 14 states."

According to the Ministry of Home Affairs, the August raids also led to substantial physical recoveries, including improvised explosive devices, grenades bearing markings from Pakistan's state-run Ordnance Factory, pistols, live cartridges, and CCTV cameras that officials said the network had been using for espionage purposes. Investigators alleged that SBN had been paying local operatives inside India to conduct reconnaissance of police stations, defence installations and religious sites, and to install covert surveillance equipment at those locations ahead of planned attacks.

Links to Specific Attacks and an Ongoing NIA Investigation

Beyond the broad August crackdown, Bhatti has also been directly tied by investigators to specific violent incidents. The National Investigation Agency has been probing his alleged connection to a grenade attack in March 2025 at the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Jalandhar, Punjab. In April 2026, months before this week's formal UAPA designation, the NIA had already chargesheeted Bhatti as an absconding accused in that case, alongside one other co-accused.

Separately, Delhi Police's Special Cell said it had busted two modules linked to Bhatti's network in the capital, arresting six suspected operatives from Delhi and Punjab. Investigators in that case said interrogation of the accused revealed an alleged plan to carry out petrol bomb attacks at high-footfall locations in Delhi, including New Police Lines in Civil Lines, the Anand Vihar Inter-State Bus Terminal, a railway station, and crowded market areas, with reconnaissance videos of these sites allegedly sent to Bhatti through an encrypted messaging application. In a related state-level action, Maharashtra's Anti-Terrorism Squad questioned 112 people across the state over suspected links to the network, an operation that came just days after the Delhi Police module bust.

What the UAPA Designation Changes Going Forward

With the Shahzad Bhatti Network now formally added to the First Schedule of the UAPA, the organisation carries the same legal status as other long-banned groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. In practical terms, the designation gives Indian investigating agencies a stronger legal basis to pursue funding channels, digital propaganda networks and individual operatives linked to SBN under a unified terrorism framework, rather than relying solely on the patchwork of state-level FIRs and individual criminal charges that had been used against the network's alleged members up to this point.

Investigations into the network's activities, including the NIA's ongoing case tied to the Jalandhar grenade attack and the broader question of Bhatti's current location and possible extradition from Brazil, remain active as of this week's designation.