New Delhi: In a revelation shedding light on the prelude to one of the capital’s deadliest attacks, investigators have confirmed that the disturbing video message from the Delhi suicide bomber, Dr. Umar Mohammad—also known as Umar-un-Nabi—was recorded at least a week prior to the explosion that claimed 13 lives near the Red Fort on November 10.
According to sources, the footage, in which Nabi defends suicide bombings as “martyrdom operations,” was stored on a mobile phone he entrusted to his brother during a visit to their family home in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, earlier this month. Nabi, an assistant professor of General Medicine at Al Falah University in Faridabad, departed for work shortly after, leaving behind one of his two devices.
The brother’s actions were triggered by a cascade of arrests among Nabi’s colleagues at the university. On November 7, Dr. Adeel Ahmed Rather was detained for allegedly distributing posters tied to a terror group in Srinagar. Two days later, on November 9, Dr. Muzammil Shakeel was taken into custody following the discovery of explosives in Faridabad. By November 10—the day of the bombing—Dr. Shaheen Saeed had also been apprehended.
Fearing police scrutiny, as whispers circulated that authorities were seeking Nabi too, the brother disposed of the phone in a nearby pond in Pulwama. When probes into Nabi’s devices revealed both were powered off, with signals last pinging in Delhi and Pulwama, officers descended on the family residence. Under persistent interrogation, the brother confessed to the disposal.
The recovery effort proved arduous. The bombing occurred amid the search, and the submerged phone—afflicted by water damage and a faulty motherboard—yielded the video only after several days of forensic work, sources.
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In the clip, which surfaced publicly on Tuesday, Nabi grapples with religious prohibitions against self-harm while framing the act as divinely sanctioned heroism. “One of the very misunderstood concepts is the concept of what has been labelled as suicide bombing. It is a martyrdom operation… known in Islam,” he states, addressing potential contradictions head-on. He urges viewers not to dread death, emphasizing inevitability and predestination.
Psychologist Namrata Ohri, analyzing the footage , noted Nabi’s poised demeanor despite avoiding direct camera gaze. “He seemed very confident and convinced about what he was saying… He’s very confident in his thought process, too,” she observed, describing his delivery as scripted yet authentic, aimed at persuading an audience of his conviction.
The recording’s origins trace to room 13 in building 17 at Al Falah University, a site where the alleged Jaish-e-Mohammed-linked doctors plotted operations, including the amassing of 2,900 kg of explosives in a property leased under Dr. Shakeel’s name.