Red Fort blast mastermind Umar Nabi was looking to recruit a suicide bomber since last year, officials say

Jammu and Kashmir police recently unearthed a sophisticated ‘white-collar’ terror module that had been actively seeking a suicide bomber since 2024, officials said.

The Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police, along with the CRPF, conducted raids across several areas in Pulwama linked to militant groups and Jamaat-e-Islami (an Islamist organisation with political and social influence in South Asia, often accused by authorities of having links to militant activities in the region), following the explosion near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10.

Investigators found out that the hunt for a suicide attacker was driven by Dr Umar Nabi, considered the mastermind of the module . According to questioning of co-accused individuals, Nabi, who is believed to have died in the explosives-laden car at the Red Fort, was a “hardcore radical” who insisted that their operations required a suicide bomber.

CCTV footage shows terror-accused Umar Nabi driving an explosives-laden i20 car through Delhi’s Connaught Place, an iconic circular commercial hub located in the city centre. Image-X

Acting on these inputs, Srinagar Police detained Jasir, alias ‘Danish’, a political science graduate from Qazigund. His name had surfaced during the interrogation of other arrested doctors, including Dr Adeel Rather and Dr Muzzaffar Ganaie. Jasir told investigators he first met the doctor module in October of the previous year at a mosque in Kulgam and was later taken to a rented accommodation linked to Al Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana.

Also read | NIA arrests key aide of suicide bomber Umar Nabi who helped procure i20 for Red Fort blast

Jasir explained that while some members wanted him to work as an over-ground worker for the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), Umar spent months trying to convince him to become a suicide bomber. The plan fell apart in April when Jasir refused due to financial difficulties and religious beliefs forbidding suicide.

Investigators say this module’s search for a suicide attacker adds a dangerous dimension to the ongoing probe into the JeM-linked interstate terror network.

Nabi, the 28-year-old doctor from Pulwama, was reportedly preparing a vehicle-borne IED attack around the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary in December. His radicalisation began after a 2021 trip to Turkey with co-accused Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie , where they reportedly met JeM over-ground workers.

Following their return, Nabi and Ganaie, associated with Al Falah University, procured large quantities of chemicals , including 360 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulfur, much of which was stored near the university campus. Their December plot was foiled when Ganaie was arrested and explosives seized, a development believed to have triggered the premature Red Fort blast that killed 13 people.

The larger network was eventually exposed after JeM posters appeared in Bunpora, Nowgam, in October. Police traced the activity via CCTV footage, arresting three locals, whose interrogation led to Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-imam from Shopian, who played a key role in radicalising the doctors and supplying the posters.