New Delhi

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Tuesday searched 18 locations in Punjab and Haryana in connection with three terror-gangster network cases linked to Pakistan-based terrorist Shahzad Bhatti.

The NIA teams carried out these searches at 18 locations in nine districts of the two states and examined several persons to gather relevant information, the agency said in a statement.

The NIA sleuths also seized several digital devices and documents, along with information linked with various communication networks, financial transactions and activities of persons under the NIA's scanner in the three cases.

NIA said all the information and evidence collected during the searches have been sent for scrutiny as well as forensic and technical examination to unravel the larger cross-border conspiracy.

As per the anti-terror agency, notices have been issued to certain individuals to join the investigation for further examination as part of its ongoing probe aimed at unravelling the larger conspiracy behind the network operated by gangster turned terrorist Bhatti from across the border.

NIA said its searches were "focused on identifying Bhatti's associates and others linked with the terror conspiracy related to all three cases."

NIA's investigation so far in case has traced the March 2025 grenade attack at the residence of social media influencer Roger Sandhu in Punjab's Jalandhar to Shahzad Bhatti. In April this year, NIA had chargesheeted Bhatti as an absconder, and one other accused in the case.

The NIA has further found that Bhatti had also masterminded the November 2025 explosion at the Women Police Station in Haryana's Sirsa and the January 2026 blast at Baldev Nagar police station in Haryana's Ambala.

In the Sirsa case, NIA had chargesheeted nine individuals, including Bhatti and another Pakistan-based handler, Sohail Ahmad alias Sohail Baloch, in May 2026.

The Baldev Nagar police station case relates to a car bomb explosion, in which one arrested accused was found to have been in touch with Bhatti.

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The NIA further said that its investigations in these three cases are contined as part of its aggressive efforts to trace all linkages in the terror attacks.