Security has been beefed at the office and residence of National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval after the arrest of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terrorist Hidayat-Ullah Malik who disclosed that he conducted reconnaissance at Sardar Patel Bhawan, and other high-value targets in the Capital on the instructions of his Pakistan-based handler.

Officials in Delhi and Srinagar said information about a detailed video recce of Doval’s office was revealed during interrogation by Malik, a Shopian resident who was arrested on February 6.

Four others were also questioned in connection with the case. Amongst them are two residents of Shopian, including Hidayat-ullah Malik’s wife, a college student pursuing a course in Chandigarh and a Bihar resident.

Malik was arrested along with arms and ammunition. A vehicle was also seized during the arrest.

Malik made a startling disclosure and told interrogators that on the directions his Pakistani handler identified as ‘Doctor’, on May 25, 2019 he had recorded videos of important installations at New Delhi, including Doval’s office.

He took a flight from Srinagar airport on May 24, 2019 to reach Delhi and had returned to Kashmir in a bus following the recce. He also admitted to his Jammu & Kashmir Police interrogators that he also recced the Samba Sector border area in 2019.

He carried out a recce of the Samba border area along with another terrorist who was arrested in the Ban Toll Plaza attack case. J&K Police also found that Malik had provided a Santro car to one terrorist for a fidayeen attack in May 2020.

Doval, who has been a target of terror groups operating from Pakistan since the 2016 Uri surgical strikes and the 2019 Balakot attack, is one of India’s most protected individuals.