Thane attack: ISIS-linked note found, lone wolf angle probed

A Maharashtra ATS probe found alleged extremist material after arresting Zaib Zubair Ansari, who reportedly attacked security guards in Mira Road after religious questioning, with officials citing possible self-radicalisation and a lone-wolf terror pattern under investigation

Mumbai: Investigators have found a note referring to ‘lone wolf’ attacks and the Islamic State at the house of a man arrested for allegedly attacking two security guards after asking their religion in Maharashtra’s Thane district, an official said on Tuesday. The 31-year-old accused, who had lived in the United States for several years, seemed to have undergone “self-radicalisation”, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said.

Prima facie, the incident appeared to be a ‘lone wolf’ attack, and the accused Zaib Zubair Ansari allegedly asked the guards at an under-construction building site in the Mira Road area to recite the ‘Kalma’ before stabbing them early on Monday, a state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) official said. A ‘lone wolf attack’ refers to a terrorist act carried out by an individual without any help or instigation from an organisation.

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Ansari (31) had returned to India from the US in 2020, the ATS official said. One of the victims claimed that the accused asked them to recite the ‘Kalma’, and when they could not, he stabbed them with a knife, causing them serious injuries, as per the official.

The Maharashtra government handed over the probe into the incident to the ATS on Monday evening.
Ansari lived alone at the Smita Regency building in Naya Nagar, Mira Road, about 200 metres from the incident site, the official said. His wife, who is of Afghan origin, had left him and gone to the US, as per the probe.

During a search of his residence, the ATS recovered a note referring to lone wolf attacks and the Islamic State, a laptop, and three copies of the Quran, the official said. Chief minister Fadnavis, who also heads the home ministry, said the accused was apparently influenced by online content and books, and acquired an extremist mindset.

“It seems to be a case of self-radicalisation. The individual appears to have been influenced by certain content and developed an understanding of concepts like ‘jihad’ and killing people of other religions,” Fadnavis said.

“With the help of agencies like the ATS and NIA, we will probe who is behind this radicalisation and whether others are involved,” he added. According to the ATS official, the accused first asked the two security guards for directions to a nearby mosque.

The guards told him that they did not know the location of the mosque. Ansari then asked them whether they were Hindus, and moved ahead. Within a few seconds, he returned, pulled out a knife from his pocket, and allegedly attacked security guard Subrato Sen and his supervisor Rajkumar Mishra, the official said. Before attacking, Ansari asked the supervisor whether he was also a Hindu, and if not, he should recite the ‘Kalma’. The accused stabbed them because they were unable to recite the ‘Kalma’, the official said.

Notably, terrorists who targeted tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu and Kashmir in April 2025 had allegedly asked one of the victims, a Christian, to recite the ‘Kalma’ before shooting him dead. Ansari was identified with the help of CCTV footage and apprehended within one and a half hours by Mira Bhayander-Vasai Virar Police.

The accused had lived in the US with his parents from 2000 to 2020. After his work permit expired, he returned to India and stayed in Kurla area of Mumbai and Vashi in neighbouring Navi Mumbai for some time, the ATS official said. Since 2022, he was living alone at the Smita Regency building. The Mira Bhayander area had witnessed communal tensions and violence during a Ram Mandir Pran Pratishtha ceremony rally in 2024.