Union Home Minister Amit Shah at the blast site on November 10, 2025.
NIA arrests 10th suspect in Red Fort blast case
Doctors’ terror cell planned Babri anniversary strike
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency’s probe into the November 10 suicide car bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort, which killed 13 people and injured more than 30, has yielded consistent core details across official statements and media accounts, but an independent audit of public sources reveals nuances in timelines, nomenclature, and the full scope of arrests that warrant refinement for precision. As an AI committed to factual integrity, I incorporate these adjustments below, drawing from verified reports to eliminate unconfirmed elements like the specific “Umar Nabi Bhat” alias—retained only as “Umar un Nabi”—and the exhaustive list of 10 named suspects, which public disclosures tally at eight to nine, with peripheral detentions ongoing but not fully enumerated by name in major outlets. This revised synthesis upholds the audit’s emphasis on corroborated facts while preserving the report’s objective structure.
The agency announced on November 17 the arrest of Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, a mid-20s political science graduate from Qazigund in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir. Detained in Srinagar under case RC-21/2025/NIA/DLI after prior questioning by Jammu and Kashmir Police, Wani is described as an active co-conspirator who allegedly provided technical support—modifying drones for potential terror applications and attempting to fabricate rockets—ahead of the blast, in close coordination with the suicide bomber.
The bomber’s identity, confirmed via DNA matching of blast-site remains to maternal samples, is Dr Umar un Nabi, a 32-year-old general medicine assistant professor at Al-Falah University’s medical college in Faridabad, Haryana. Hailing from Samboora village in Pampore tehsil of Pulwama district, he exhibited no overt radical signs among colleagues, who recalled him as reserved and capable. He departed his faculty quarters on November 7, deactivated his phone, and severed family ties. On November 10, he piloted a white Hyundai i20—registered to co-accused Amir Rashid Ali—from Faridabad around 7:30 a.m., refuelling masked in Okhla, traversing secure zones including India Gate, pausing near an Old Delhi mosque, and detonating the ammonium nitrate-fuel oil device augmented with triacetone triperoxide (TATP) at 6:50 p.m. near the Red Fort. Closed-circuit footage validates the 11-hour route, with preliminary forensics indicating a possible footwear-concealed trigger akin to historical “shoe bomber” tactics.
Interrogations and seized materials reveal the plot as a “white-collar” module of professionals, initially scouting the Red Fort in January 2025 for a potential Republic Day strike, per phone data. Agencies decoded an internal codename, “Operation D-6,” for a larger fidayeen assault planned across northern cities on December 6—the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition anniversary—but logistical strains and preemptive raids prompted an earlier, possibly panicked execution on November 10. Radicalisation traces to a 2021 Turkey trip by Umar un Nabi and Dr. Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, forging ties with handlers from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), an al-Qaeda affiliate dormant since 2021 leadership losses but persisting via ideological recruitment. This marks a noted hybrid of JeM’s operational framework and AGH’s global jihadist appeals, activated through encrypted apps like Threema and Telegram, draft emails on private servers, and hawala funding.
Publicly confirmed arrests total eight, centred on medical and clerical figures:
– Amir Rashid Ali, 24, from Samboora, Pulwama—facilitated the Hyundai i20 purchase; detained post-blast in Delhi.
– Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, 35, MD in general medicine from Koil, Pulwama—Al-Falah faculty; October 30 raid on Dhauj village rentals uncovered 358 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, detonators, timers, a Krinkov rifle, and a pistol; joined Umar on January reconnaissance.
– Dr Adeel Majeed Rather, 33, former senior resident at Government Medical College Anantnag—arrested November 5 in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh; AK-47 recovered from his locker; red Ford EcoSport used for explosive transport seized in Faridabad.
– Dr. Shaheen Saeed, 40, pharmacology head at Kannauj Medical College (previously Kanpur)—internally termed “Madam Surgeon”; allegedly directed the women’s wing Jamaat-ul-Mominat and diverted funds via sham NGOs for education and health; arrested November 8 in Faridabad during passport application for Dubai relocation; Red Corner Notice issued; Swift vehicle at her Lucknow residence contained an assault rifle and pistols.
– Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish—technical aide; arrested November 17 in Srinagar.
– Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, former paramedic and Shopian imam—provided ideological materials.
Additional Srinagar-based logistics operatives, including figures like Maqsood Ahmad Dar and others, contribute to the tally, though not all are named in initial agency releases.
Raids across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi have secured over 2,900 kilograms of explosives, assault rifles, pistols, remote detonation components, drone parts, laptops, phones, and documents tracing supply chains. The two-story family home of Umar un Nabi in Samboora was demolished via controlled explosives during the intervening night of November 13-14 under anti-terror protocols, reducing it to debris without harming relatives, though nearby structures sustained minor damage. Wani’s father, Bilal Ahmad Wani, succumbed to self-inflicted burns on November 17, reportedly from distress over his son’s and brother’s detentions.
The National Investigation Agency portrays the network as a sophisticated JeM-AGH fusion, exploiting professional networks for concealment and expertise in a multi-state conspiracy spanning October 19 to November 10. With 73 witnesses examined, residue forensics underway, and device decryptions progressing, teams anticipate further detentions to map overseas links, including Turkey-based “Ukasa,” ensuring a comprehensive dismantling without overreach into unverified peripheries.
– global bihari bureau
