Delhi Blast: What Happened In Faridabad University's Building 17, Room 13

The Al Falah University in Faridabad, about 45 km from Delhi, has emerged as the epicentre of the planning for the blast that ripped through the heart of the national capital last Monday. The investigation into the terror incident is focused on four doctors working at the university who are being linked to the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad. The university has claimed it had "no connection" with them.

At least 13 people were killed after a Hyundai i20 car exploded in slow traffic near the Red Fort Metro Station on Monday. Dr Umar Mohammad was later confirmed as the vehicle's driver through DNA matching, sources said. Three other doctors—Dr Muzammil Shakeel, Dr Adeel Rather, and Dr Shaheed Saeed—are now in police custody.

Based on inputs from sources and the cops, NDTV has decoded how the blast was planned and plotted at various places within the university premises.

Fundraising

The four doctors had pooled a fund of Rs 20 lakh to carry out terror attacks across Delhi, with reports now emerging of serial blasts being planned across the National Capital Region (NCR) on December 6, the day in 1992 when the Babri mosque was demolished in Ayodhya.

Read: Red Fort Blast Terrorists Wanted To Use Four Cars In Serial Bomb Attack

The entire sum was handed over to Dr Umar for safekeeping. Later, they bought about 26 quintals of NPK fertilizer from the markets in Gurugram, Nuh, and other nearby towns. That cost them around Rs 3 lakh. This fertilizer was intended for use in making Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and is being treated as part of the blast conspiracy.

The Planning

Spread over 70 acres, the Al Falah University is located about 27 km from the Haryana-Delhi border. A room in its premises has now emerged as a meeting hub for the doctors involved in the blast conspiracy. Dr Umar and his associates secretly met at building number 17. Room number 13 in the building belonged to Dr Muzammil, where the terrorists frequently met. It is in this room that the police suspect they had planned to carry out blasts in Delhi and several parts of Uttar Pradesh.

Smuggling Chemicals

The terrorists first planned to smuggle chemicals from the university laboratory for bomb-making. The laboratory is just a few metres from Muzammil's room. Dr Umar and Dr Shaheen, both faculty members at the university, managed to arrange the chemicals. It was then stored at rented places in the Dhauj and Taga villages in Faridabad.

Read: Diaries With Code Words, A Repeat Mention: Major Recovery After Delhi Blast

Dr Muzammil's room is now sealed, with multiple electronic devices and pen drives being recovered from there. Two diaries filled with code words and encrypted messages were also found, besides a repeated mention of the word 'operation.'

The forensic experts have also found chemical residues and digital data from both the room and the university lab. The police now suspect that the chemicals smuggled from the lab were used to make explosives by mixing small amounts of ammonium nitrate with an oxidizer.

An unspecified amount of ANFO, an explosive compound containing ammonium nitrate and fuel oil, was used in the Delhi blast, sources earlier said. During raids in Faridabad, the police had recovered over 2,000 kg explosive materials, including 350 kg of ammonium nitrate.

What Al Falah Said

The management of Al Falah University has expressed anguish and condemned the Delhi blast, claiming that the institution had no connection with the doctors detained in this connection. "We have also learnt that two of our doctors have been detained by the Investigating Agencies. We wish to make it clear that the University has no connection with the said persons apart from them working in their official capacities with the University," it said. In the statement, Vice-Chancellor Bhupinder Kaur Anan also condemned baseless reports aimed at maligning the university's reputation.