Pune, 17 November 2025: A Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) raid on October 9 has uncovered the shocking radical activities of a Pune-based technology engineer. The officer, identified as Zuber Hangargikar, had worked for over 15 years in leading IT companies, yet was secretly collecting extremist material and promoting hardline ideology.
According to ATS sources, Hangargikar completed his engineering degree from a reputed institute in Solapur and earlier studied in an Urdu-medium school. He initially worked with an IT company in Hinjawadi before joining a software firm in Kalyani Nagar in 2012, where he continued working in hybrid mode after the Covid period.
Investigators found that despite his technical background, he had gradually drifted toward extreme religious radicalism. He reportedly enforced strict hardline beliefs within his family, spread anti-democratic views, and regularly urged young people to reject democratic systems.
Around 2015, he came in contact with suspected radical elements in Pune and Hyderabad and began reading writings from extremist preachers in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Over time, he built a large personal library of radical books and also downloaded extensive extremist content from the internet. His laptop and mobile phone contained several Al-Qaeda digital magazines filled with guidance on jihad, lone-wolf attacks, guerrilla tactics, and detailed bomb-making instructions. Some of the material openly called for establishing a “caliphate” through violent jihad in India.
The ATS found that he had studied Al-Qaeda literature, writings on the 9/11 attacks, and texts glorifying militants and suicide attackers. Forensic reports indicated that he possessed significant knowledge of explosives, improvised devices, and guerrilla warfare, which investigators consider extremely serious.
He was also an active member of several domestic and international social media groups and ran his own channels where he circulated messages on “Ghazwa-e-Hind,” “Sharia rule,” and the need for violent struggle. These groups also discussed ideas such as rejecting democracy and removing national borders.
Investigations revealed that he held multiple secret meetings in Pune, Solapur and Thane, where he allegedly told young people that violent jihad was the only way to establish Sharia rule in India.
On October 9, the Maharashtra ATS carried out raids in Kondhwa, Khadki and Wanowrie, checking 18 individuals. Forensic analysis of seized material confirmed a large and dangerous stock of extremist content, officials said.
