Rajasthan ATS recovers hidden data from arrested cleric’s phone, points to major conspiracy

Jaipur, Nov 17 – Rajasthan’s anti‑terrorism units seized more than 300,000 photos and a trove of digital files from the phone of Osama Umar, a cleric who was arrested on November 6 in Barmer district for links to the Tehreek‑e‑Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and possible foreign funding.

The Anti‑Terrorism Squad (ATS) says those images show extremist propaganda and messages in Urdu, Arabic and Persian. IG Vikas Kumar – the ATS chief – confirmed that teams are now pulling out hidden photos, deleted data and social‑media content from Umar’s device for analysis.

Umar was taken into custody after a tight two‑day interrogation. He was produced in court on Saturday and sent to jail while investigators look into whether money from abroad helped his activities.

Sources say Umar kept in touch with radical groups through social‑media channels for nearly four years. The phone data now on hand shows he was planning to leave India to Dubai on November 8 and then head to Afghanistan for terror training at a TTP training camp. After training, he reportedly intended to return home to set up a sleeper cell.

The ATS arrested him in Sanchore on November 4, and after verification, formally detained him on November 6. During interrogation, he admitted the Dubai‑Afghanistan plan, which was stopped by ATS before he could board a flight.

In addition to Umar, four other detainees are under de‑radicalisation programmes, while intelligence agencies have heightened monitoring of suspects, especially on social media. This follows a series of previous moves by terrorist outfits that attempted to expand in Rajasthan after the 2008 Jaipur blast attacks – many of which were thwarted by state and national security forces.

Investigation teams are now examining the large photo collection for contextual clues and will bring in language experts to translate the Urdu, Arabic and Persian messages. The findings could provide new evidence of Umar’s ties to TTP and potential foreign funding links.

The ATS and national intelligence agencies remain on high alert as they continue to track and monitor known and suspected terrorists in the region.

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