Centre lists Shahzad Bhatti Network as a terrorist group under UAPA

The Ministry of Home Affairs designated the Shahzad Bhatti Network a terrorist organisation on 16 September 2026. A gazette issued under Section 35(1)(a) of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act added “Shahzad Bhatti Network (SBN)” to the First Schedule. It is the 46th group on that list.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the network smuggled arms, explosives and narcotics across the border, pulled “gullible youth and local criminals” into terror work, and published “hateful digital content.” The notification used similar language. It said SBN’s aim was to use those recruits and those goods to threaten “the democratic system, communal harmony, and internal security of the country.”

The ban followed a multi-state operation that began on 12 August, on the eve of Independence Day. The Home Ministry said more than 80 first information reports were registered and more than 200 people were arrested. Separate tallies put detentions at 253 people across 14 states. Uttar Pradesh Police said they had already built 12 cases and 52 arrests after examining about 175 suspected associates on 26 May, and that the state was the first to ask the Centre for a UAPA listing.

Who the government says runs it

Shahzad Bhatti is described in official notes as a Pakistani-origin gangster who speaks Punjabi and posts often on Instagram and Facebook. Officials say he has been based in the United Arab Emirates and that over the past year and a half he moved from organised crime into terror-related work. Four Pakistan-based associates named in reporting on the file are Abid Jatt, Ajmal Gujjar, Hunain Rana and Hasan Gujjar.

Investigators allege that weapons and explosives were flown in from Pakistan on drones and then moved through local operators in India. The states listed in connection with the August crackdown include Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Punjab, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Gujarat, Bihar, Karnataka, Telangana and Kerala. The National Investigation Agency had already searched 18 locations in Punjab and Haryana in June on related gangster-terror files.

The Home Ministry notification did not reprint individual charge sheets. It listed the statutes under which cases already stand: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Information Technology Act, the Explosive Substances Act, the UAPA, the Official Secrets Act, the Immigration and Foreigners Act, and the Delhi law on defacement of property.

What the listing changes

A First Schedule entry is not a conviction. It is a legal tag that lets agencies freeze assets, block accounts, treat membership and support as standalone offences, and move cases in the UAPA courts. It also gives state police a common heading for what had been a scatter of local FIRs on arms, narcotics, threats and online content.

That is why Uttar Pradesh’s earlier request matters. A state case file can produce arrests. Only the Centre can put a name on the national list. Once the name is there, a recruiter in another state who never met Bhatti can still be charged for support of a listed organisation if prosecutors can show the link.

The timing sits next to the Independence Day raids. Agencies presented those arrests as a pre-emptive strike against a syndicate that mixed drones, drugs and local muscle. The gazette converts that operational claim into a durable legal category.

The open parts of the file

Bhatti himself is not in Indian custody. The government has described him as operating from the UAE. Extradition, if it is sought, will be a separate diplomatic track. The four named Pakistan-based associates are likewise outside the reach of the 14-state raids.

The notification also does not quantify how many of the 200-plus arrests will be charged under the new listing rather than under the older arms, narcotics and IT cases. That split will show whether SBN is being treated as one organisation or as a label placed over several local gangs.

For now the legal fact is narrow. On 16 September the Home Ministry wrote a new name into the First Schedule. From that date, support for the Shahzad Bhatti Network is a UAPA offence in every Indian court that hears the Act.