Red Fort blast probed as terror attack, Kashmir doctors under lens

Link to doctor's arrest

The intelligence sources are linking yesterday’s arrest of a doctor from Kashmir, who was working at Al Falah hospital in Faridabad, to the car explosion in Delhi.

Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai from Pulwama was wanted in connection with a case for putting up posters supporting terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad in Srinagar. The police had said they seized 358 kg of explosives suspected to be ammonium nitrate from Ganai’s rented home in Faridabad’s Dhauj village.

Earlier, on October 30, the police had arrested Adeel Majeed Rather, a doctor from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh. Apparently his interrogation led to Ganai’s arrest. The police have also recovered an AK-47 from a Swift Dezire car belonging to a lady doctor, who is also from Kashmir. As last reports came in, she is being interrogated whether she too played an active role and had knowledge of presence of the gun in her car.

Also read: Red Fort blast: PM Modi vows justice, says conspirators ‘will not be spared’

The intelligence sources believe that the two doctors from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh and Faridabad in Haryana, arrested for alleged links to the terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH), are part of a larger network of white collar group of doctors with origins in a medical college in Kashmir.

Likely bomber

The police now identified Umar Nabi as a third doctor, who apparently went ‘missing’ after Ganai’s arrest. The police suspects that he is the likely bomber who perished in yesterday’s blast near Red Fort.

The police is now verifying whether there was actually only one traveller in the car and not three as reported earlier. The police is basing its case on CCTV footage obtained from the Red Fort area. It has captured Umar driving around in the Hyundai i20 that exploded and went up in flames.

The police has detailed the mother and brother of Dr Umar also known as Amir in Pulwama. They are trying to match their DNA samples with the remnants of Dr Umar for further confirmation. The J&K police have arrested few others in Pulwama for ascertaining more facts on the case.

The police and the intelligence are working on the theory whether Umar, who felt cornered and expected immediate arrest, had embarked on a suicide mission using an improvised explosive device. The car was carrying a large among of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil. The police is yet to reveal what was used as detonator.

Also read: Delhi blast: Bus conductor, 34-yr-old businessman among 12 killed in car explosion

The blast, which ripped through a crowded traffic signal near Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station at 6.55 PM on Monday, resulted in 12 deaths and two dozen people were seriously injured.

Fireball of flames

Eyewitnesses have described that the white Hyundai i20 sedan with Haryana registration number HR-26CE-7674 erupted in a fireball of flames, hurling debris across the crowded streets and shattering nearby vehicles. Among the dead were innocent commuters, including a family of tourists from Uttar Pradesh, while the injured, many with severe burns and lacerations, are battling for life at LNJP Hospital.

Who was Dr Umar?

Dr Mohammad Umar, born on February 24, 1989, in Koil village, Pulwama, suspected to be the bomber, is product of Srinagar's Government Medical College, where he earned his MBBS and MD in Medicine. He had carved a respectable career as a senior resident at Anantnag Government Hospital before joining Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad as faculty.

Umar’s vehicle, traced through ownership trail was originally registered in the name of Md Salman, who said he had sold it. It then passed to Tariq, a Pulwama resident, before it went over to Umar—though the registration remained in Salman's name.

Police raids

The police is still raiding many places in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana through a joint operation to further connect the dots.

The security forces have already recovered 2,900 kilograms of IED-making material—including an initial recovery of approximately 360 kg of suspected ammonium nitrate from a flat—along with weapons caches in Faridabad. Seizures included one assault rifle (described as similar to, but slightly smaller than, an AK-47, possibly a Krinkov), one pistol with live rounds, three magazines for the rifle, and other ammunition.

Also read: Body parts scattered everywhere, sky turned red: Witnesses recount Delhi blast horror

The module, active since mid-2024, allegedly funnelled funds via hawala networks and recruited via online jihadist forums. An FIR under UAPA Sections 16 and 18, alongside the Explosives Substances Act, has been registered, with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and National Security Guard (NSG) leading a multi-agency probe.

The dragnet widened at first light today, with Jammu & Kashmir Police detaining Umar's mother, Shamima Bano, and brothers—Zahoor Nabi, Ashiq Nabi, Amir Rashid, and Umar Rashid—in coordinated sweeps across Pulwama. Also nabbed was Tariq Ahmed Dar, who supplied the ill-fated car.

"They held his phone, knew of the raids—complicity is being probed," said a J&K official. DNA samples from the family will aid in sealing Umar's identity, closing one grim chapter.

Network ends here: Shah

Meanwhile at the time of writing of this report Union Home Minister Amit Shah was chairing a security meet with Intelligence Bureau (IB) chiefs, Delhi Police, and J&K DGP in attendance.

"No stone will be left unturned; this network ends here," Shah tweeted overnight, as alerts blanketed Delhi, Mumbai, and Srinagar.