The recent NIA chargesheet in the Delhi Red Fort blast case has revealed that one of the prime accused, Jasir Bilal Wani, had used easily accessible civilian technology for the terror attacks.
This comes just a week after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on May 14 filed a whopping 7,500-page chargesheet against the 10 accused in the high-intensity November 2025 blast.
Wani, who emerged as a key maker of Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for the Al Ghazwa Ul Hind (AGuH)—an offshoot of Al Qaeda—allegedly used YouTube and ChatGPT to dive deep into IED designs, rocket construction techniques, and information about the ideal chemical proportions for explosive mixtures.
According to the NIA, Wani also used online tutorials and AI-assisted responses at each stage of experimentation with the explosive engineering methods, a News18 report said, citing the chargesheet itself, and inputs from intelligence sources.
They added that Wani's reliance on YouTube and ChatGPT was a case of “democratisation of terror technology", a phenomenon where individuals without formal training allegedly access technical guidance through low-cost civilian tech, and then use it for nefarious purposes.
Not just technology
According to the NIA chargesheet, the Red Fort blast accused extended the 'democratisation' approach beyond technology too.
In fact, it alleges that Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather—another of the prime accused in the case—powdered sugar and potassium nitrate extracted from NPK fertilisers were key ingredients for the IEDs that were supplied to Wani to use as propellant material for experiments.
Butane canisters were allegedly used to build cylinder IEDs, in addition to analogue alarm clocks used for timing mechanisms and commonly available electronic components used for trigger systems.
The accused even reportedly bought a number of IED-related items on Flipkart, co-funded (via cash-on-delivery mode) by Dr Umar Un Nabi and delivered to him as well.
This included advanced triggering mechanisms, such as inductive proximity switches, RF remote relays, Piezo plates, soldering kits, flameless lighters and heat guns.