What conspired in Room 13 at Al-Falah University ahead of the Delhi blast?

Al-Falah University in Faridabad is increasingly under scrutiny following the Red Fort blast that left 13 people dead and 20 injured. The private university, situated less than 30 kilometres from Delhi, has become central to the investigation.

According to reports, Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaia from Pulwama, one of the doctors arrested in connection with the blast, occupied Room 13 in the Al-Falah Medical College hostel. Investigators suspect that this room was used by the Faridabad-based terror module to plan and coordinate attacks.

The university issued a statement on Wednesday distancing itself from the accused doctors, stating that it has “no connection with them other than their employment”, and rejecting reports that its premises were used to manufacture explosives. It described such claims as “defamatory and false.”

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Inside Room 13

R oom 13, located in Building 17 on the Al-Falah University campus, is now believed to have served as an operations centre for planning terror activities. Investigators say that Dr Muzammil Ganaia, who hails from Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, frequently used the room for meetings and coordination.

He was regularly visited by Dr Umar Nabi, also from Jammu and Kashmir, who has been identified as the driver of the car that exploded near the Red Fort on Monday night. The slow-moving vehicle burst into flames at the Subhash Marg traffic signal, igniting nearby cars and sending crowds into panic.

Dr Shaheen Shahid, from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh, was also a frequent visitor. All three doctors were employed by Al-Falah University.

Investigators have further identified Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather from Kulgam and Dr Nisar ul Hassan as being part of the same network. Ganaia, Shahid, and Adeel are now in custody, while Nisar remains missing. Dr Shaheen was allegedly tasked with setting up and leading the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) women’s wing in India, under the banner of Jamaat-ul-Momineen.

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Authorities believe that Room 13 was used to plan logistics and transport routes for ammonium nitrate, which the group intended to use for multiple blasts across the Delhi-NCR region.

“Building 17 was their command post. Room 13 became their planning base — they used it for meetings, coordination and possibly to store digital data and blueprints for their operation,” said Haryana ACP (Crime) Varun Dahiya, as quoted by Hindustan Times. “We are not ruling out more connections within the campus. Our suspicion is that others may have assisted them — even unknowingly.”

Students told reporters that Room 13 was always closed, unlike other hostel rooms.

“We often saw unknown people entering late at night or early in the morning,” one student said. “No one ever spoke much, and the room always had visitors.”

Evidence recovered

Room 13 has since been sealed by authorities. Several electronic devices, pen drives, diaries and notebooks have been seized — many filled with coded messages and repeated references to the word “operation.”

The notebooks contained names, numbers and dates between 8 and 12 November, along with references to individuals from Jammu and Kashmir, Faridabad, and other regions.

Forensic teams have lifted fingerprints, chemical residue and digital data from both Room 13 and the adjacent university laboratory. Officials suspect that chemicals smuggled from the lab were used to produce explosives by mixing ammonium nitrate with oxidisers.

“The college lab has been sealed and scanned. Forensic experts have collected samples of chemicals, glassware and beakers for testing,” a senior officer told Hindustan Times. “We are checking whether any experiments related to explosive compounds were conducted here.”

Authorities had earlier seized 2,900 kilograms of explosives and bomb-making material, including around 350 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, from rented rooms in Faridabad allegedly linked to Dr Ganaia.

Many at the university remain in disbelief.

“Building 17 was the busiest hostel, but no one suspected that one of its rooms was being used for something like this,” a resident doctor said. “Muzammil was polite and quiet. He studied a lot, but there was always something different about him. He had few friends but many visitors.”

About Al-Falah University

Founded in 2014 and recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in 2015, Al-Falah University is located in Dhauj, Faridabad, on a 70-acre campus. It operates a 650-bed charitable hospital — the Al-Falah School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre — and provides separate hostel facilities for male and female students.

Established by the Al-Falah Charitable Trust, the university serves a large number of students from Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar. It holds an ‘A’ grade accreditation from NAAC and was originally founded to support minority and rural education.

With inputs from agencies