The suspected ISIS operative, arrested by Delhi Police on Friday night, had planned to carry out terror strikes in crowded areas of the Capital after being instructed by his handlers in Afghanistan, a senior official said.

Pramod Kushwaha, deputy commissioner of police (special cell), said the operative identified as Mohd Mustaqeem Khan, Yusuf aka Abdul aka Abu Yusuf, was in direct touch with the commanders of Islamic State in Khorasan Province (ISKP) in Afghanistan through social media platforms.

Khan was arrested after a “brief exchange of fire” late on Friday night from the section of the Ridge Road between Dhaula Kuan and Karol Bagh. He was going to install the two pressure cooker Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), which were recovered from him, at “heavy footfall area” in Delhi, he said. The IEDs were defused later.

Police had been keeping an eye on the 36-year-old resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Balarampur and his contacts since the past one year, Kushwaha added.

“He was connected with ISIS for the last many years and was directly in touch with ISIS commanders. He was handled by Yusuf Alhindi, who was killed in Syria later. After that, Abu Huzafa, a Pakistani, was handling him,” he said during a press briefing.

Huzafa had promised Khan, an owner of a small cosmetic shop, he would call him to Khorasan and he had passports made of his wife and four children. He learnt to make IEDs while he was in touch with Huzafa, who was killed in a drone attack, Kushwaha said.

“We are verifying whether he made the IEDs found on him or someone else gave them to him. He has told us during interrogation that he had made them,” the senior official said.

The new amir had instructed him to stay put and carry out lone-wolf attacks in the country. Khan had planned a terror strike in the national capital on August 15 but could not do so due to heavy security arrangements, he added.

He had been instructed to carry out fidayeen attacks after installing the IEDs and but was not told about the places he was to strike. “A terror strike has been averted through this operation and I think a major incident has been avoided,” Kushwaha said.

He was sent to eight-day police custody by a local court in the Capital. The accused was presented at the house of Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Pawan Singh Rajawat, who allowed Special Cell to question the accused for eight days, news agency ANI said citing sources.