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This new ecosystem doesn’t rely on street-level operatives. It uses influence, credibility, and access, while embedding sympathisers where trust is highest
A day after the Red Fort blast, a security personnel at the spot on Tuesday. (PTI)
From priests in remote parishes across the rural hinterland to professors in elite universities in metro cities, from doctors in major hospitals to activists running NGOs to uplift the poor and needy, India’s ‘white-collar’ terror network is expanding quietly.
As investigators disentangle the knots and unravel the highly sophisticated terror module behind Monday’s car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort, News18 traces a web of operatives spanning Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, Bengal and beyond. It appears to be a layered network of educated individuals who are connected through WhatsApp handlers, OTP fraud rings, and shadow financiers mostly operating from Pakistan.
Behind the façade of respectability and social position lies an intricate web of ideology, manipulation, and infiltration, which is reaching deep into classrooms, hospitals, corporate offices, schools, universities and even government systems.
#CNNExclusive | First images of Adil, Muzammil and Dr. Shaheen Saeed surface.Probe finds Maulvi Irfan, a former paramedical staffer at GMC Srinagar and ex-Imam, played a key role in radicalising medical students.
All three suspected to have Jaish-linked ideological ties,… pic.twitter.com/JcBt9alN3n
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Degrees, devotion and deceit
An ‘unofficially’ converted Christian turned priest in a remote village in Burdwan running a small church; a senior auditor in a famous corporate house; popular professors in top universities across cities like Delhi and Kolkata; scholars in important institutions; acclaimed authors; doctors in critical care units; NGO activists championing social causes — News18 has gone through the profiles of at least 10 such terror suspects who were either arrested or detained. Such ‘educated’ operators have been part of India’s latest terror ecosystem, which wears a professional mask.
They do not announce themselves with weapons or slogans, but through encrypted chats, shadow fund transfers, and carefully cultivated respectability.
Talking to News18, a senior police officer, who served as the IG, operations in a central agency, said, “Terror is always meant to be planned by the privileged and educated class. We analysed and studied many such profiles, their backgrounds, and the web of recruitment they create. For context, we can use the most prominent example — Burhan Wani. He came from a privileged background and radicalised hundreds. They don’t even preach Jihad, but they call themselves freedom fighters.”
- Dr Ahmed Mohiuddin Syed, arrested by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) two days ago, was allegedly planning chemical poisoning in some important establishments. Syed received his medical degree from a foreign university. Investigators are still tracking his network.
- In another case, two rural preachers were arrested by the Bengal STF a few months ago from a village in Burdwan. They were found to be a part of a Pakistan-based terror module that operates through a WhatsApp-OTP scam. The names of the priests were withheld; the investigation into the network is now at a sensitive stage.
There are multiple such cases in which young men and women from affluent and educated families were radicalised and used as ‘handlers, recruits, or operators’. Ashar Danish, a postgraduate in English literature, is also one of them. He was leading a terror module linked to the ISI and was arrested from Ranchi in September.
Following the major haul of explosives and arms in Faridabad and the car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort, state and central agencies have tracked down a network of doctors, professors, and gig workers, all allegedly linked to the same terror module. The spotlight is once again on educated youth, academics, and professionals —individuals occupying respected social positions– who are being drawn into extremist networks.
The individuals are being tracked across institutions in Kashmir, Kerala, Karnataka, and Bengal that appear to form the soft underbelly of radical outreach. What stands out is how seamlessly this ecosystem blends into mainstream professions, using education, religion, and social work as its camouflage, said a senior officer serving in a central agency.
“We maintain a database of such individuals who come from privileged and educated strata of society. Poor people, the foot soldiers of such a network, are used as the gunpowder. These people are connected with both underground and overground networks. The overground network provides them with logistical and legal support if needed, while the underground or foreign-based network finances them and supplies them with arms,” he added.
The PFI Trail
The Enforcement Directorate’s ongoing probe into the Popular Front of India (PFI) has added a crucial dimension to such a network. According to the Enforcement Directorate’s (ED) findings, funds collected in the name of charity, community service, or educational projects were allegedly diverted to modules engaged in radicalisation, training, and recruitment.
Among those under scrutiny include professionals, individuals holding senior positions in the organisation, who acted as facilitators, using their professional legitimacy to move money, legitimise ideologies, and build influence.
Some accounts and trust funds traced by the Directorate are now suspected to have helped finance logistics or arms procurement in recent terror-linked operations. According to sources, the ED is likely to expand its financial probe beyond PFI’s immediate network to investigate whether other radical outfits or local fronts have replicated this ‘professional recruitment and funding model.’ Investigators are focusing on digital transactions, unregistered trusts, and cross-border remittances disguised as welfare funding.
Digital Lures, Global Handlers
The recruitment pipelines are mostly online. WhatsApp-based OTP fraud networks operated from foreign land, self-deleting Telegram chats, and encrypted cloud folders serve as temporary communication bridges between local nodes and overseas handlers, while some allegedly operate out of Pakistan and the Gulf nations, said a senior officer of the Uttar Pradesh STF.
“For many of the young recruits, especially students and early-career professionals, the entry point appears to be harmless like an internship, a webinar, or a donation drive. Slowly, ideological messaging is layered in, reframed as intellectual dissent or social justice,” the officer added.
This new ecosystem doesn’t rely on street-level operatives. It uses influence, credibility, and access, while embedding sympathisers where trust is highest such as hospitals, classrooms, NGOs, and sometimes, government-linked institutions.
Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa…Read More
Madhuparna Das, Associate Editor (policy) at CNN News 18, has been in journalism for nearly 14 years. She has extensively been covering politics, policy, crime and internal security issues. She has covered Naxa… Read More
November 11, 2025, 17:35 IST
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