A terror module of five—Maulvi Irfan Ahmad Wagay, a cleric; Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, a native of Anantnag who worked at a hospital in Saharanpur; Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai of Pulwama and Dr Shaheen Shahid of Lucknow working at Faridabad’s Al Falah university and suicide bomber Dr Umar un Nabi—was the core group that facilitated the car blast near Red Fort in Delhi. But who facilitated their movements? Who provided the financial support, and who all were in touch with them?
As the National Investigation Agency (NIA) pieces together the terror conspiracy to expose the role of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed—whose handlers guided the perpetrators to execute the blast—the first step is to gather evidence of their overground and underground networks in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir and other states. Since the accused were using the encrypted platform Telegram for communication, the probe team may require physical visits to all the places where they actively mingled with fellow doctors and associates in these states, to get to the bottom of the conspiracy.
“Whether it is Saharanpur, Kanpur, Lucknow or Srinagar, more evidence is being gathered to understand the local networks of the accused,” said a security official. “Joint interrogation and local visits of the accused will help unravel more details on their movements and associations,” he added.
From Delhi to Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to Kashmir, the investigators are on the move. They are analysing the financial network of the module, questioning their local associates and trying to uncover their logistical support bases. There may be hundreds who provided support by sharing and propagating extremist ideology to create a pan-India network that finally saw the movement of explosives crossing state borders to carry out the suicide bombing on November 10.
The Red Fort terror plot was a deviation from the regular practice of infiltrators who would otherwise cross the border from Pakistan to wreak havoc, say investigators. This time, the terror mongers wormed their way into Telegram channels and the minds of medical professionals to stitch an overground network. These professionals were moved by the geopolitical changes and conflicts in different parts of the world and felt the need to be associated with the terror mongers whose aim was to cause disaffection against the Indian state.
Investigators have found evidence to believe that Mufti Irfan, a Maulvi from Shopian district who worked as a paramedic in Srinagar, was in touch with Jaish-e-Mohammed handlers before 2019. Under the lens are Telegram groups, consisting of around 18-20 members, including doctors and young professionals, who were exposed to Jaish handlers.
Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, a native of Anantnag who worked at a hospital in Saharanpur, and Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai of Pulwama who worked at Faridabad’s Al Falah university were being handled by Jaish operative Hashim, the investigators said, adding that Dr Shaheen Shahid, who hailed from Lucknow, was a key part of this group tasked to rope in more women for the Indian wing of the JeM.
These five, including the alleged suicide bomber Dr Umar, formed the core terror module that actively picked up arms and provided the logistical support for the November 10 attack.
“It is a handful who pick up arms ultimately, but the outcomes are dangerous and evidence is hard to come by to link them up to the terror nodes across the border in Pakistan,” said an investigator.
Sleuths say it was Maulvi Irfan who was the ideologue who allegedly stitched together the overground network in the Valley and beyond. What raises concern for investigating agencies is that the ideologues do not have active terror footprints but are driven by conviction of thought, where they propagate extremist ideology to sow seeds of separatism and terror. This is the reason why many times in the past, terror accused who were overground workers could not be convicted on terror charges.
This also explains why agencies like the Enforcement Directorate have stepped in at this stage to probe the financial links of the terror modules operating from Al Falah University in Faridabad, where the terror accused were operating before the Jaish-e-Mohammed-backed module was busted.
The ED probe will stitch together the role of the ideologues and the foot soldiers, uncovering the many layers of support—including financial and logistical—that were instrumental in supporting the terror modules over the years to help them build a network and a support base to procure explosives and execute the attack.
“Executing a terror act is the last stage, but the entire interstate network had been built over years and months. It is only the arrested accused who can throw more light on how this pan-India network was stitched,” said an official.
The recovery of IED-making material from the premises of Dr Muzammil gave an entry point to investigating agencies whose focus is now on ensuring the local networks, consisting of ideologues, foot soldiers, financiers, logistic suppliers as well as sympathisers, are dismantled.
