New Delhi: Investigations into Monday’s alleged car explosion near the Red Fort have pinpointed Dr. Umar Un Nabi as the lead figure in a dangerous Faridabad-based terror cell, according to officials familiar with the probe. Described as the group’s most fervent ideologue, Umar operated alongside three detained Kashmiri physicians Dr. Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, Dr. Adeel Majeed Rather, and Dr. Shaheen Shahid who formed the core of the operation.
During an overnight questioning session in Srinagar on Monday, Shaheen admitted that Umar frequently ranted about orchestrating a series of devastating strikes across India whenever the group gathered after shifts at Faridabad’s Al-Falah Medical College. Intelligence sources informed that Umar, in collaboration with Muzammil and Adeel, had systematically gathered fertilizer-derived explosives, including ammonium nitrate, over nearly two years. Their aim: to execute synchronized bombings in multiple cities under the direction of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group.
Authorities from Jammu and Kashmir Police, working in tandem with their counterparts in Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, had previously taken Muzammil, Adeel, and Shaheen into custody. Umar, an instructor at the same medical college, evaded capture at the time and vanished into hiding, only to allegedly reemerge as the perpetrator behind the Red Fort incident. He is believed to have loaded a Hyundai i20 with readily obtainable ammonium nitrate and blasting caps to trigger the blast. Interrogations of the captured doctors in Jammu and Kashmir have uncovered signs of a broader JeM infrastructure at play.
Shaheen’s disclosures extended to her own sibling, Parvez Sayeed, whom she identified as similarly indoctrinated and active in the cell’s encrypted messaging circle alongside Muzammil and Adeel. On Tuesday, a Jammu and Kashmir Police unit traveled to Lucknow to detain Parvez, though the search yielded no major finds. “He may have preemptively discarded any explosive materials upon sensing trouble,” one investigator speculated. Meanwhile, a supplier of ammonium nitrate in Gurugram has come under scrutiny and could face imminent searches and possible detention.
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The sweeps in Faridabad and the Delhi detonation have laid bare an insidious web of religious leaders fueling radicalization. Among them is Irfan Ahmad Wagay, a cleric from Shopian, who maintained direct lines to JeM’s Pakistan handler, Umar bin Khattab—also known as Harjulla. A second figure, Hafiz Mohd Ishtiyak from Mewat, allegedly handled supply chains for the plotters. These influencers exploited online channels to groom educated elites, such as physicians, for JeM’s cross-country sabotage efforts. As one official observed, “The medical field’s respected status provided ideal camouflage for their violent schemes.”
This case echoes prior instances of medical professionals entangled in extremism. In November 2023, Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha terminated Dr. Nisar Ul Hassan, an assistant professor of medicine at Srinagar’s SMHS Hospital, due to established terrorist affiliations. As self-proclaimed head of the Doctors Association of Kashmir (DAK), Hassan reportedly leveraged the organization to steer J&K’s healthcare workers toward separatist causes, backed by Pakistani operatives. Authorities are now probing whether Hassan played any part in steering the Faridabad doctors or those implicated in the capital’s explosion toward militancy.
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