Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 19: At least 10 people, including three Kashmiris who worked or studied at the Al-Falah University in Faridabad in Haryana, flagged as the ground zero for the November 10 Delhi blast near the iconic Red Fort, are reported to be “missing” and their mobile phones switched off, intelligence sources said on Wednesday.
The disappearance of the 10 people was flagged after a joint op by Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana Police. While it is still too early to draw conclusions, intelligence inputs said the missing people may be part of, which has come to be known as the ‘Faridabad terror module,’ responsible for the Delhi blast.
Earlier in the day the sources said the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Pakistan-based terrorist group likely behind the Red Fort blast, had issued a call for ‘donations’ – sums of PKR 20,000 are being demanded – to fund more ‘fidayeen‘, or suicide, attacks.
Sources said clues found during the investigation into the Red Fort blast suggested Jaish leaders had called for the fund-raising via digital means, including a Pak app called SadaPay, and may also be plotting a women-led attack. The Jaish already has a ‘women’s wing’; terror boss Masood Azhar’s sister, Sadiya, was tasked with leading that unit, which was set up after Op Sindoor, India’s military response to the Pahalgam attack, wiped out JeM camps in Pak’s Bahawalpur.
One of the key suspects in the Red Fort blast – Dr Shaheen Saeed, whose codename was allegedly ‘Madam Surgeon’ and may have been responsible for financing the attack – is reportedly a member of that unit, which is called Jammat ul-Muminat.
The man driving the i20, Dr Umar Mohammad, was killed in the blast while 9 others including three doctors from the Al-Falah Medical College, have been arrested. On Tuesday the founder of the University Jawad Ahmed Siddiquem was also arrested by the Enforcement Directorate over a terror financing-linked money laundering case.
Meanwhile, more details about how the white collar terror module operated has emerged, over a week after the Jaish-e-Mohammed-linked Faridabad module detonated the Delhi blast. All the key suspects including the suicide bomber Umar Un Nabi had clearly defined roles. While their tasks were widely different, from logistics to bomb-making, all of them seem to know their group objective – to launch terror strikes, sources said.
Umar-bin-Khattab alias Hanjulla is a Pakistan-based operative with whom Jammu and Kashmir resident Maulvi Irfan Ahmed stayed in touch. Irfan Ahmed is a maulvi at a mosque in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian. His task was to radicalise educated youth and connect them with the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) to set up the white collar terror module. Irfan Ahmed had direct links with several JeM terrorists. He was the one who recruited the doctors and formed the ‘invisible’ white collar terror module that went to ‘work’ soon. Irfan Ahmed identified ‘potential’ in Muzammil Shakeel and managed to recruit him.
Muzammil Shakeel, a doctor at Faridabad’s Al-Falah University, met other ‘like-minded’ doctors at the university and recruited them – Muzaffar Ahmad, Adeel Ahmad Rather, and Shaheen Saeed. Saeed went a step further – she brought her brother Parvez Ansari, also a doctor, to be part of the terror conspiracy. Shakeel is the most important suspect because the maulvi recruited him first, and he went on to expand the terror module. Apart from radicalising potential students in Al-Falah, he transported the explosives.
Shaheen Saeed, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, taught at Al Falah University. Her main task was to raise funds for the white collar module and connect poor women and girls with the JeM’s women unit, Jammat-ul-Muminat. Saeed funded the Faridabad module with approximately Rs 20 lakh and kept a fundraising campaign running at all times.
A resident of Jammu and Kashmir, Amir Rashid Ali helped the suicide bomber plan and carry out the November 10 attack near Delhi’s Red Fort. He had a hand in preparing the explosives that killed 13. Ali was arrested from Delhi by the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He arranged the i20 car used by the suicide bomber.
Adeel Ahmed Rather was the suspect whose arrest by the Jammu and Kashmir Police exposed the entire module. His information led to the arrest of the two other doctors, Muzammil Shakeel and Shaheen Saeed. The police then recovered 2,900 kg of explosives in Faridabad. Adeel Ahmad’s main role was to arrange weapons for the terror module.
Umar Un Nabi, the suicide bomber who drove the i20 for several hours across Delhi before detonating it at a crowded area, had some knowledge about chemicals after training in using ammonium nitrate for making explosives. It is clear he was the most radicalised as seen in a video that he recorded before the suicide attack.
Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish worked as a technician for the terror module. He was trained in bomb-making and recruited by the suicide bomber himself. Jasir Bilal was given the task of looking for ways to attach explosives to drones. He planned to make rockets for the terror module.
According to sources, Muzammil Shakeel befriended a shopkeeper who ran a mobile phone store. A month ago, he gave the shopkeeper two large machines – a big, stapler-like device and a machine used for grinding – to keep in the shop. He told the shopkeeper he was going to his village for his sister’s wedding and asked him to take care of his belongings. The police are questioning the shopkeeper now. Two years ago, his child had suffered burn injuries. He took his child to Al-Falah, where during treatment he became friends with Muzammil Shakeel.