MHA designates Bengaluru engineering graduate Mohammed Shahid Faisal as terrorist

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has officially designated Mohammed Shahid Faisal, a computer science engineering graduate from north Bengaluru, as a terrorist in its new list of 23 individuals released on July 4. Faisal, who fled India in 2013 and is currently active in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, has been identified as a key mastermind and online handler behind major terror incidents in South India, including the March 2024 Rameshwaram Cafe blast in Bengaluru.

Faisal, who also goes by the alias Zakir Ustad, is now 42 years old. He went missing as a 28-year-old in the wake of a 2012 terrorism conspiracy case. According to the MHA, he fled to Pakistan in 2013 with the assistance of his father-in-law, Farhatullah Ghori, who is also a wanted terror suspect.

The MHA list describes Faisal as being of Pakistani nationality, though he is originally Indian. He is currently active in Rawalpindi and is affiliated with multiple global terror groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al-Qaeda, and ISIS.

In recent years, security agencies have identified Faisal as the online handler for terror incidents in South India since 2020. These incidents include the Mangaluru auto-rickshaw blast in November 2023 and the Rameshwaram Cafe blast in March 2024.

The MHA description highlights Faisal as the key mastermind and handler behind the 2012 Bengaluru LeT conspiracy case and the 2013 Nanded LeT case. Both of these cases involved plots for the targeted killings of right-wing politicians and journalists.

Before fleeing the country, Faisal studied at a prominent private engineering college in north Bengaluru. During his college days, he earned a reputation as a hacker and computer expert. He was later drawn to radical Islam by local and online preachers. Faisal’s parents had settled in Bengaluru after moving to the city from Kerala.

His father-in-law, the 60-year-old Farhatullah Ghori, is originally from Hyderabad and remains a wanted suspect. Ghori is also an accused in the 2012 Bengaluru LeT conspiracy case.