26/11 Target Under Watch Again: How a 20-Year-Old From Airoli Allegedly Ended Up Spying for Shahzad Bhatti's Network

Seventeen years after Lashkar-e-Taiba gunmen stormed Nariman House, the Jewish centre in Colaba has turned up in a terror investigation again.

Yash Singh, a 20-year-old from Navi Mumbai, has been arrested for allegedly conducting reconnaissance of sensitive locations in Mumbai, including Chabad House, one of the targets of the 26/11 attack.

 Investigators say the trail leads back to a network linked to Pakistan-based gangster Shahzad Bhatti, and the case now runs from Navi Mumbai to Kerala.

Picked Up in Airoli

Singh lives in Airoli. The Navi Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) first apprehended him after intelligence inputs about suspected links to international criminal networks through social media.

The case quickly moved beyond Maharashtra. Investigators linked his activities to a case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in Thrissur, Kerala. A Kerala Police team then travelled to Navi Mumbai, examined the suspected connections and took him into custody.

What He Allegedly Collected

Investigators say Singh did not just photograph landmarks. He allegedly photographed sensitive establishments, collected vehicle-related details and gathered precise location information on Jewish citizens, foreign nationals and their businesses in the city.

 Police suspect he was working for foreign handlers and passed the information on to his contacts.

His main focus was Chabad House, also known as Nariman House, in Colaba, a Jewish religious and cultural centre that was a key target in November 2008. That makes the alleged recce especially alarming.

 During the 26/11 siege, two terrorists took hostages at Nariman House. Rabbi Gavriel Holtzberg and his pregnant wife, Rivka, were killed there along with two other Israelis, an American and a Mexican.

 The attacks lasted three days and killed at least 166 people, with about 300 injured.

The Bait: Easy Money on Messaging Apps

The ATS has described how young people like Singh get drawn in. It says a network reportedly linked to Shahzad Bhatti's crime syndicate targets unemployed and financially vulnerable young people on Telegram, Instagram and WhatsApp, offering them money to carry out reconnaissance, gather information and do similar tasks.

 Police have not yet said how much Singh was allegedly paid or how the money reached him.

Who Is Shahzad Bhatti?

The name has come up in several cases across India this year. Agencies describe Shahzad Bhatti as a Pakistani-origin gangster and the key face of a terror-gangster network.

 Abid Jatt, Ajmal Gujjar, Hunain Rana and Hasan Gujjar have been identified as his four Pakistan-based associates. In September, the Union Home Ministry declared the Shahzad Bhatti Network a terrorist organisation under the UAPA.

Bhatti first built a large following as a social media content creator. He now stands accused of recruiting vulnerable young people online and connecting them with criminal and extremist networks.

 Former NIA Special DG Atulchandra Kulkarni has warned that recruitment often starts with small paid tasks that can escalate into violence.

Agencies have been moving against the network for months. Police have busted nine modules handled by Bhatti since 2025, but officials say he intends to keep recruiting Indian youth and setting up new modules.

 In Maharashtra, the ATS earlier began questioning 102 people across the state suspected of contacting Bhatti through social media.

 Further north, Delhi Police's Special Cell arrested 12 alleged members of a module run by Bhatti and his aide Ajmal Gujjar, a group that included a biryani seller, a ginger vendor and a moneylender.

Why the Case Matters

Investigators are worried about the pattern this case fits. Bhatti's network does not depend on trained operatives.

 It relies on ordinary young men with phones, short of money and willing to run errands for strangers online. In Singh's case, those errands allegedly put a site that has been attacked once before back under watch.

The Kerala Police are now examining how far Singh's links go and whether other people in Mumbai were sent on similar tasks.