Terror angle in attack by IIT graduate in UP?

A day after an IIT Bombay graduate armed with a sickle attacked two Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) sentries at the gate to UP's Gorakhnath temple, state investigative agencies said on Monday they weren't ruling out a terror conspiracy.

Security at prominent places of worship across the state was beefed up as teams from the police's Anti-Terrorism Squad and Special Task Force jointly started probing what was initially suspected to be a "lone wolf attack". Additional chief security Awanish Awasthi of the home department said the possibility of the arrested assailant, unemployed chemical engineer Ahmad Murtaza Abbasi, being associated with any terror group hadn't been ruled out yet.

CM Yogi Adityanath visited the injured PAC sentries, Gopal Gaur and Anil Paswan, at BRD Medical College and announced a reward of Rs 5 lakh to them for foiling the attack.


Murtaza had allegedly attacked them without provocation and tried to enter the temple. The Gorakhpur resident shouted religious slogans while lunging at the duo, only to be overpowered. He suffered some injuries, too. Two FIRs were filed against him. Murtaza was quoted as telling interrogators that he visited Nepal recently and bought the sickle found on him from Maharajganj, a border village in that country, during his return journey.

An ATS team also interrogated Murtaza's father, who claimed his son was not of sound mental health. The police seized from him a laptop and a ticket for a Delhi-Gorakhpur flight. Officials said initial screening of his laptop revealed "jihadi literature".