Pune ATS Secures Custody of ISIS Suspect Linked to Satara Robbery, Firearms Supply
Pune, 6th June 2025: The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Wednesday evening took custody of Talha Liyakat Ali Khan, a Pune resident accused of links with the banned terrorist outfit ISIS, in connection with a robbery at a saree showroom in Satara last year. The 37-year-old, originally from Kondhwa, was brought from Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail to Pune under tight security.
Khan was produced before a special court on Thursday, which remanded him to ATS custody till June 16. He is the fourth person arrested in the case.
The robbery, which occurred on April 8, 2023, involved two masked men entering a garment store near Ajanta Chowk in Satara, threatening staff with firearms, and fleeing with ₹1 lakh in cash on a motorcycle.
Following the incident, Satara police had initially registered the FIR. However, during a separate nakabandi in Pune’s Kothrud area last year, police recovered a stolen two-wheeler from two suspects. The bike was later found to be linked to a terror-related case under investigation by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and confirmed to have been used in the Satara robbery, prompting the ATS to take over the case.
In court, ATS officials presented Khan with his face covered and submitted a detailed remand application. Additional Public Prosecutor Vijay Phargade told the court that Khan is suspected of financing and supplying weapons to the trio previously arrested in the case.
“We need his custodial interrogation to track the origins of the firearms and money used in the crime. He is also suspected of being involved in radicalisation and has travelled abroad under suspicious circumstances,” Phargade told the court.
The prosecution highlighted that Khan had visited Muscat on August 12, 2022, and investigators are probing whether this trip had any terror-related objective or if he was involved in recruiting youths for ISIS.
ATS sources said the investigation aims to uncover a broader network of terror funding and arms trafficking potentially linked to radical elements within the state.
