While the nine men arrested from Mumbra and Aurangabad allegedly made sure that their supposed plan for a citywide attack held water, those working to maintain the reservoirs say the group's plan would have tanked. The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) found out that the leader of the group, Mohsin Khan, had conducted a recce of reservoirs that supply water to Aurangabad in order to mix poisonous chemicals in it. The group had surveyed four such tanks with a total capacity of supplying around 75 lakh litres of water. Following their arrest earlier this week, ATS sleuths had taken Mohsin to the reservoirs in the afternoon on January 22 to know what their exact plans were.

After arresting the nine men, ATS had claimed the group were planning on executing mass killings by contaminating food and water. ATS had also claimed that the accused had planned on mixing chemicals in the water at the Kumbh Mela and attack other places as well. During investigation, ATS said they found pictures of water tanks in the personal computer of Mushahidul Islam.