Suhail came in touch with an IS handler through Facebook in May 2018. His first handler was Al-Peshawari alias Abu-Malik- al-Peshawari, who subsequently handed him over to Umais and Bangali. It is Peshawari who guided him on how to remain anonymous through Telegram, Threema and Turbo VPN (mobile-only based system out of China that gives free access to nine servers across America, Europe and Asia). He also sent him books and IS literature to radicalise him further. Among the recovered data are elaborate chats between Suhail and his IS handler on various aspects of making bombs, such as in what ratio to use kalmi shora (potassium nitrate), gandhak (sulphur) and other material. The handler also sent him e-books (The Mujahideen Explosives Handbook, among others) that contain details aboutestablish contact with two of his childhood friends who had become terrorists, the two returned to Delhi. According to the timeline put together by the NIA, they met Suhail and three others at the Pacific Mall in Ghaziabad (on the outskirts of Delhi) and told them that they will soon have help from Jaish.

For their operation, Suhail’s IS module had collected about Rs 6 lakh from voluntary contribution. Suhail, investigation has revealed, had befriended two sisters from Lucknow on Facebook, who sold their jewellery and contributed about Rs 3 lakh for their operation. One of the other group members, Rashid Zafar Raq, a resident of Seelampur in Northeast Delhi had sold off his iphone and contributed Rs 70,000. The group also had plans to loot a store in