Three weeks before the blast near Delhi’s iconic Red Fort, posters supporting terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad appeared in several parts of Srinagar. Jammu and Kashmir police then started an investigation that would bring them to Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, and the national capital. This investigation would also reveal a fundamental shift in terror recruitment, which Jammu and Kashmir police would describe as a “white collar terror ecosystem”.
Three Kashmiri doctors, Adeel Ahmad Rather, Muzammil Shakeel and Umar Mohammed, are being investigated in connection with last evening’s blast that claimed nine lives and left over 20 injured. The arrest of Rather and Shakeel in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur and Haryana’s Faridabad, respectively, led to the recovery of a huge amount of material used in bomb-making.
According to security agencies, the 2,900 kg of bomb-making material recovered from two rooms in Faridabad is suspected to be ammonium nitrate. The same chemical was used in the blast near Red Fort, initial findings suggest.
Around 6.52 pm yesterday, a white Hyundai i20 was at a traffic signal near Red Fort. This traffic signal is on Netaji Subhash Marg. On one side is the Red Fort, and on the other, Chandni Chowk. Suddenly, a powerful blast ripped through the car and several vehicles. Eyewitnesses said they saw a “huge fireball,” and 15-odd fire engines took half an hour to bring the blaze under control.
The blast set off alarm bells in India’s security establishment, and within the next 12 hours, multiple security agencies pieced together the plot behind this shocking blast.
The Car That Changed Many Hands
After the blast, police traced the ownership records of the i20 car with registration number HR26CE7674. The car was found to be registered in the name of Salman. When police questioned Salman, he said he sold the car to one Devender this March. Later, it changed hands and went to Aamir. Aamir passed it on to Tariq. From Tariq, the car moved to Dr Umar Mohammad.
Umar, a close associate of Adeel, was arrested in the poster case. He is now believed to be the man at the car’s wheel when the blast was triggered. A CCTV footage before the explosion shows a part of Umar’s face. Police are now planning a DNA test to confirm the car driver’s identity.
The Terror Case And A Panic Theory
While ministers and officials have not yet used the word ‘terror attack’, police have registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, used in terror cases. Last night, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the security agencies are probing all angles. According to reports, the anti-terror agency National Investigation Agency may now take over the probe into the case.
The investigators are now probing whether it was a suicide attack by a panicked Umar. Security agencies had reached Adeel and Muzammil and recovered 2,900 kg of bomb-making material and sophisticated weapons such as assault rifles and pistols.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that, unnerved by his aides’ arrest and the massive seizure of bomb-making material, Umar may have decided to carry out a suicide attack in desperation.
Faces Of New Age Terror?
Umar, Adeel, and Muzammil are doctors. Adeel had worked in the Government Medical College, Anantnag, before moving to Saharanpur to work in a private hospital. Muzammil had been working as a senior resident at Al Falah School of Medical Sciences & Research Centre for the past three years. Muzammil’s colleague, Dr Shaheen Shahid from Lucknow, was also arrested after weapons were recovered from her car. And now, Dr Umar Mohammad is believed to have triggered the suicide attack.
The involvement of highly educated professionals, such as doctors, signals a fundamental shift in how terrorist organisations identify their recruits, according to security agencies. Jammu and Kashmir police yesterday said this “white collar” terror 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.