Shahzad Bhatti, the Pakistani gangster at the centre of the recent nationwide counter-terror operation, is also a social media influencer.
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. In the latter case, an arrested accused was found to be in contact with him. 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.
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). He offered them anything between ₹5,000 and ₹10,000 to put up posters with his image at public places. 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. Bhatti masterminded the March 2025 grenade attack on the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Jalandhar, according to the NIA. In April 2026, it chargesheeted him as an absconder, along with another accused. 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 May 2026, the NIA named nine accused in the Sirsa case, including Bhatti and another Pakistan-based handler Sohail Ahmad, alias Sohail Baloch. The November 25, 2025, grenade attack was also recorded on a mobile phone for publicity.
Describing his modus operandi , a U.P police officer said, “Bhatti contacted young men on social media who liked or commented on his posts. 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.
The State police had earlier arrested and charged nine others in the case.
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. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered three cases allegedly involving Bhatti.
