Red Fort blast: Officials say ‘car driver’ Umar Nabi had planned for Dec 6 strike

Red Fort blast: Dr Umar Nabi who was driving the explosives-laden car that blew up near the Red Fort had planned a powerful blast timed around the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on December 6, officials said on Wednesday.

The details of the plan have been pieced together after interrogation of the eight people arrested for their alleged links to the interstate ‘white collar’ Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) terror module centred in Faridabad and conversations with their family, friends and neighbours, the officials said.

Umar, a 28-year-old doctor based in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district believed to have been killed in the November 10 Red Fort blast in which 12 people lost their lives, has emerged as key in the terror network spanning Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

His plan fell apart with the arrest of Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie alias Musaib, who taught at Faridabad’s Al Falah university and from whose room 360 kg of ammonium nitrate was found. It is believed that Umar panicked and the explosion was accidental, the officials said.

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According to officials, Umar was a loner and had an excellent academic record. A trip to Turkiye in 2021 with Ganaie, the first of the eight people to be arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police, led to a dramatic transformation and radicalisation, they claimed.

It is believed the two met overground workers of the banned JeM during the trip.

After the trip, a changed Umar allegedly began accumulating explosives, including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur, with Ganaie and started storing them in and around the Al Falah campus where he was pursuing higher studies.

According to officials, Umar informed the others about his December terror plan and began prepping for it by placing explosives in the Hyundai i20 he was driving on that fateful November 10.

It is likely that he was assembling a vehicle-based improvised explosive device (VBIED) after taking lessons on its construction and detonation circuit from open sources available on the internet, officials said.

Umar may have panicked on November 10 when a top Faridabad police officer appeared on television announcing that a terror module had been busted with the recovery of 2,900 kg of explosives in Faridabad, officials said. The 2,900 kg included the 360 kg of inflammable material recovered from Ganaie’s rented accommodation.

Umar took refuge in a mosque in the walled city where he stayed for three hours on Monday evening before driving out. A premature explosion took place. The VBIED was also incomplete, as shrapnel had yet to be assembled, the officials said.

Of the eight people arrested, seven are from Kashmir. They are Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid from Nowgam in Srinagar; Maulvi Irfan Ahmad from Shopian; Zameer Ahmad Ahanger alias Mutlasha from Wakura area of Ganderbal; Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie alias Musaib from Koil area of Pulwama, and Dr Adeel from Wanpora area of Kulgam. Dr Shaheen Sayeed is from Lucknow.

On October 26, Umar travelled to Kashmir and spent some time with his friends and relatives before starting his return journey to Faridabad. During this trip, he told his close relatives and friends that he would not be available for next three months, the officials said.

The statement was corroborated by many of his friends, relatives questioned and other co-accused to the police, they said. It is most likely that he wanted to plant the VBIED and then go underground for sometime.

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However, the plan took a U-turn after a meticulous investigation by the Srinagar police in a case related to putting up posters supporting the JeM in Srinagar led to the arrest of Ganaie. The posters were pasted on walls of the city on October 19.

That was the starting point of the investigation. This led to the unravelling of the inter-state terror network after the CCTV showed Ganaie along with some others involved in the act.