‘Motorcycle reels, honey-trap missions’: How JeM operative’s girlfriend targeted influential figures | Kolkata News
KOLKATA: A 22-year-old aspiring influencer from Jharkhand — known online for reels of motorcycle rides and travel — has been arrested for her alleged role in a Pakistan-linked terror module, Bengal’s Special Task Force (STF) said on Saturday. Arpita Sarkar allegedly helped her boyfriend, suspected Jaish operative Mohammad Hamim Mondal, build contacts with influential figures and honey-trap them on the module’s instructions. Sarkar was picked up from Barharwa in Jharkhand’s Sahibganj district, roughly 300 km from Kolkata, a day after Mondal’s arrest from a gated housing complex in Burdwan. STF officers say she was an active member of the network and took instructions routed through Pakistani handlers.
Digital trails led investigators to her. Officers said Instagram chats between Sarkar and Mondal formed the basis of her arrest. “She helped Hamim develop contacts with influential political figures and collect their details. We are examining digital evidence and verifying the exact nature of her role,” an STF officer said. The couple’s relationship goes back nearly four years, beginning on Instagram before moving offline, officers said — but their alleged Pakistan links are recent. “The two had an affair for almost four years. But as per our information, it has been only a few months that they were in communication with the Pakistani terror outfit handlers,” a senior STF officer said. According to STF IG Gaurav Sharma, it was Mondal who drew Sarkar into the module, after which she began taking orders directly from handlers based in Pakistan. He alleged she was “thoroughly involved” in honey-trapping the son of a Bengal minister, on Mondal’s instructions. “Arpita was fully aware of what she was doing,” Sharma said, adding that officers are working to crack the pair’s encrypted chats and checking for any foreign funding. Sarkar holds an English Honours degree from BSK College in Barharwa; Mondal is a second-year college dropout who was allegedly keeping tabs on West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari before he was caught. Sharma said Mondal took orders over social media and encrypted apps from Pakistani numbers and handles, and was told to procure police uniforms and lead a group to Jantar Mantar — scene of last month’s students’ protest — to create unrest. “We are yet to ascertain if he was able to build that team and travel to Delhi,” he said. Investigators believe Mondal was part of a wider ISI-backed operation built to surveil VIPs, recruit new operatives and lay groundwork for terror activity in Bengal. He was allegedly brought into the fold by Pakistani handlers four to five months ago and told to expand the network — Sarkar was one of his recruits. Officers say targets included tracking senior politicians and police officers. “The investigation is still at a very nascent stage, and more persons are likely to be arrested in the coming days,” Sharma said. Communication ran through WhatsApp, Telegram, Element X and Session, officers said, and four Pakistan-based handles — Abir Jat333, Uzair, Rana and Hamad — have been flagged for issuing instructions. “It is suspected that these handles are linked to Pakistan’s Shahzad Bhatti gang. Through them, fundamentalist propaganda was spread and youths were targeted for brainwashing. These Pakistani handles also used SIM cards from Britain and Mexico,” Sharma said.Cops are also looking closely at Sarkar’s frequent, extended visits to her maternal grandparents in Kolkata during her college years — a pattern that has taken on new significance in the probe. Villagers in Gwarkhol, Barharwa, said she was often away, returning home only sporadically. Whether those Kolkata trips gave the couple a chance to meet in person, beyond their online contact, is something officers are still trying to establish. Mondal’s family hails from Dirghanagar village under Monteswar police station in East Burdwan, though his father Moniruddin had been settled in Howrah’s Pilkhana for work since 1998. The family relocated to a Burdwan township three months ago, where Mondal had been posing as an IT employee. Sarkar was produced in a Burdwan court and remanded to STF custody for 13 days.
