Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 10: Just a day after 350 kg of explosives and several arms and ammunition were seized from a rented accommodation, another 2,563 kg of suspected explosives were recovered from another house also in Faridabad in Haryana and arrested a woman doctor from Lucknow for her suspected role in a terror module spanning Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
Both the houses in Faridabad were rented by Dr Mujammil Shakeel, a 35-year-old physician from Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir who has emerged as a key link in a “white-collar” terrorist ecosystem involving radicalised professionals.
As per the initial police investigation, the recovered substance is likely ammonium nitrate. Shakeel, who works at Al Falah Medical College and Hospital in Faridabad, was arrested in the case recently. Al Falah University in Faridabad’s Dhoj, around 45 km from Delhi, is privately run and recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC).
This is the eighth arrest in the terror module bust case that emerged out of Faridabad involving the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and spanning Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Dr Shaheen is the third doctor arrested in the case. She was brought by air to Srinagar for custodial interrogation, officials said.
According to the officials, the joint operation by the police forces of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, as well as the central agencies, has achieved a major breakthrough. But they did not disclose the exact dates of the arrests. The police said the owner of the house from where over 2,500 kgs suspected explosives were recovered was also detained by the police for questioning.
According to Varun Dahiya, assistant commissioner of police (Crime), Faridabad, Dr Shakil had rented the Fatehpur Taga house from the imam about eight months ago. “We have found two houses that were rented by the accused. The ammonium nitrate was recovered from the cleric’s property. We are questioning Maulana Istaq, but it is too early to share further details,” Dahiya said.
Residents said the police team arrived at the mosque early Monday morning and detained Istaq. “The police have taken away Imam Sahib. I don’t know why. He has been serving here for 20 years,” said his wife, adding that officers also seized his phone.
Irfan Ahmed, the cleric and the Imam of a mosque, is the alleged kingpin behind the radicalisation of these doctors, the sources said. This cleric was also linked to the most-wanted terrorist Zakir Musa, who was gunned down in an encounter in 2019. The two doctors have also admitted to pasting posters supporting Jaish-e-Mohammad in Nowgam last month. Muzammil’s colleague, Dr Shaheen Shahid, whose car was used to hide arms in Faridabad.
Officials said the consignment of the recovered substance believed to be ammonium nitrate was sent to the doctor about 15 days before his arrest and was intended for IED assembly as part of a larger terror plot. Investigators are also probing the role of the woman doctor known to Dr Muzammil. She is currently being interrogated in Jammu and Kashmir after an AK Krinkov rifle, three magazines, a pistol with live rounds and two empty cartridges were recovered from a Swift Dezire car registered under her name.
Faridabad Police have so far declined to comment on the broader investigation, saying a coordinated multi-agency operation is underway. Revealing more at this stage could hamper the probe, the officials said.
On Sunday, the officials recovered 350 kgs of explosives, 20 timers, assault rifles, handguns and ammunition from a room that Shakeel had been renting in Dhoj for the past three and a half years. He was arrested by the police 10 days ago after evidence linking him to Jaish-e-Mohammed emerged. A pistol with eight live rounds, two empty cartridges and two additional magazines were recovered in the raid. Eight big suitcases, four small suitcases and a bucket were also recovered from the accused’s room.
The arrests has helped uncovering a white-collar terrorist ecosystem involving radicalised professionals, many of whom are doctors. The raids were carried out at locations across J&K (Srinagar, Anantnag, Ganderbal and Shopian) and Faridabad over the past few days. The joint operation by the Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir Police, which has been ongoing over the last 15 days, resulted in the recovery of more than 2,900 kg of bomb-making material.
Earlier, Dr Adil Ahmad Rather, a Kashmiri doctor from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur, was detained for allegedly putting up posters supporting the proscribed terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed in Srinagar. After Shakeel’s questioning, the Faridabad police recovered the Swift car with ammunition registered in the woman doctor’s name. The professionals who are part of the terror module are operated by handlers based in Pakistan and other countries, and are involved in a range of terrorist activities, including pasting posters in support of terrorist groups.
Besides Shakeel and Rather, five other people – Arif Nisar Dar, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar from Srinagar, Molvi Irfan Ahmad from Shopian, and Zameer Ahmad Ahanger from Ganderbal – have also been arrested, intel sources said. Apart from the weapons and explosive agents, authorities have also recovered incriminating documents, including booklets on making IEDs.
The two doctors linked to the 2,900-kg haul of bomb-making material in Faridabad were in regular touch with their handlers in Kashmir and were awaiting details of their target, police said. Dr Adeel and Dr Muzammil have told the police during interrogation that they were chosen for the task because the handlers believed “no one would suspect doctors in Delhi NCR,” the sources said. The doctors were told to wait for details regarding their target.
The conspiracy, the sources said, was hatched in Pakistan, and the directions were coming through handlers in Kashmir. Police said this terror module was linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. The operation has led to the arrest of key operatives and recovery of a massive cache of arms, ammunition and explosives, during coordinated searches in J&K and other states.
The doctors’ interrogation suggests that creating communal disturbance in Delhi NCR was also part of the plan, the sources said, adding that the target could have been anywhere in NCR. The doctors, they said, were also involved in treating injured terrorists in Kashmir between 2018 and 2021.
On October 19, posters of Jaish were found pasted at different locations in Bunpora Nowgam. The posters, Jammu and Kashmir police have said, threatened police and other security personnel. A case was registered under relevant sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Explosive Substances Act, and Arms Act, and an investigation began.
“The investigation has revealed a white collar terror ecosystem, involving radicalized professionals and students in contact with foreign handlers, operating from Pakistan and other countries,” Jammu and Kashmir police have said. They have added that this group used encrypted channels for indoctrination, coordination, fund movement and logistics.
“Funds were raised through professional and academic networks, under the guise of social/charitable causes. The accused were found involved in identifying persons, to radicalise, initiate and recruit them to terrorist ranks, besides raising funds, arranging logistics, procurement of arms/ammunition and material for preparing IEDs,” they said.
As part of their investigation, Jammu and Kashmir police scanned CCTV footage of Srinagar areas where the Jaish posters appeared. They identified Adeel, who worked at the Government Medical College in Anantnag till October last year, before moving to Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. A Jammu and Kashmir police team travelled to Saharanpur, where Adeel had started working at a private hospital. He was arrested last week. Adeel, police have said, is from Wanpora in Kulgam. An assault rifle was recovered when police searched his locker in the Anantnag medical college.
During the investigation, another doctor’s name came up. Muzammil, originally from Pulwama, had been working as a senior doctor in Faridabad’s Al-Falah School of Medical Sciences & Research Centre for the past three years. He lived on the campus, but had rented two homes outside. When police raided these homes, they were shocked to find 12 suitcases packed with explosive material, suspected to be ammonium nitrate. The explosive material recovered in the two raids added up to 2,900 kg. Police also found timers and other suspicious items on the premises. Muzammil’s woman colleague, who has now been arrested, came under the scanner after weapons and ammunition, including an assault rifle, were recovered from her Maruti Suzuki car.
Jammu and Kashmir police have said a total of seven people have been arrested in this case. They include the two doctors, Arif Nisar, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, Maqsood Ahmad Dar, cleric Irfan Ahmad, and Zameer Ahmad Ahanger. Police have said that the roles of more individuals have surfaced, and they will be caught, too.
The police statement has also detailed the huge recovery of arms and ammunition. The police said that the 2,900 kg of bomb-making material recovered in the raids includes chemicals, reagents, inflammable material, electronic circuits, batteries, wires, remote control, timers, and metal sheets. These materials could be used to make Improvised Explosive Devices, commonly known as IEDs. The weapons recovered include a Chinese Star pistol, a Beretta pistol, an AK-56 rifle, and an AK Krinkov rifle.
Police are yet to uncover the specifics of what this terror module was planning, but the recovery of such a large amount of bomb-making material so close to the national capital has set off alarm bells within the security establishment, who are now trying to get to the bottom of this.