Red Fort area blast case: NIA’s 7,500-page chargesheet says all 10 accused were linked to Al-Qaida offshoot

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a 7,500-page chargesheet against 10 accused in the Red Fort area car bomb explosion case, in which 11 people were killed, officials said on Thursday.

The high-intensity Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) blast that rocked the national capital on November 10 last year had also left several injured and caused extensive damage to property.

All 10 accused, including the main perpetrator, Dr Umer Un Nabi (deceased), were linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an offshoot of the Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), as per the chargesheet filed before the NIA special court at Patiala House Courts here, a statement issued by the central agency said.

The AQIS and all its manifestations were notified as terrorist organisations by the Ministry of Home Affairs in June 2018.

The NIA, which unravelled a major "jihadi conspiracy" through a detailed scientific and forensic investigation, found the accused, some of whom were radicalised medical professionals, to have been inspired by AQIS/AGuH ideology to carry out the deadly attack, an official statement said.

The chargesheet has been filed under relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act 1967, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Explosive Substances Act 1908, Arms Act 1959, and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984, it said.

Charges against Pulwama-based Dr Nabi, an ex-assistant professor of medicine at Al-Falah University in Faridabad (Haryana), have been proposed to be abated, the statement said.

Apart from Dr Nabi, others named in the chargesheet are Aamir Rashid Mir, Jasir Bilal Wani, Dr Muzamil Shakeel, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, Dr Shaheen Saeed, Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay, Soyab, Dr Bilal Naseer Malla and Yasir Ahmad Dar, the probe agency said.

At a clandestine meeting in Srinagar in 2022, the accused reconstituted the AGuH terror outfit as "AGuH Interim" following a failed 'Hijrat' (migration) to Afghanistan via Turkiye, it said.

Under the umbrella of the newly constituted outfit, they launched "Operation Heavenly Hind" aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian government and imposing Sharia rule, said the statement issued by the NIA.

The NIA's investigation revealed that as part of this operation, the accused recruited new members, actively propagated the violent 'jihadi' ideology of AGuH, stockpiled arms and ammunition, and manufactured explosives on a large scale using commercially available chemicals.

The agency said it found that the accused had also fabricated and tested various types of IEDs.

The explosive used in the blast was Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), which was manufactured by the accused clandestinely after procuring constituent ingredients and conducting experiments to perfect the explosive mixture, the anti-terror agency said.

The chargesheet is based on an extensive investigation spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Delhi-NCR region.

It includes detailed evidence in the form of 588 oral testimonies, more than 395 documents and over 200 seized material exhibits, the statement said.

The NIA, which took over the case from Delhi Police, had established the identity of the deceased accused as Dr Umer Un Nabi through DNA fingerprinting, it said.

Evidence collected from the scene of the crime, as well as various locations identified by the accused in and around the Al Falah University in Faridabad and in Jammu and Kashmir, was subjected to thorough forensic examination and voice analysis, etc. as part of the investigation.

The NIA probe had further revealed that the accused had also been involved in illegal procurement of prohibited arms, including an AK-47 rifle, a Krinkov rifle, and country-made pistols with live ammunition.

They had experimented with rocket and drone-mounted IEDs with the objective of targeting security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India, the NIA statement said.

It was also revealed during the investigation that the accused procured laboratory equipment, including specialised items like MMO Anode, electric circuits, and switches, from various offline and online sources.

The accused also had plans to expand their operations in other parts of the country, the statement said.

A total of 11 people have been arrested so far in the case, in which NIA is continuing with its efforts to track absconders whose role had surfaced during the investigation, it added.

(With agency inputs)