The terrorists behind the Delhi Red Fort car bomb – who have been labelled the 'terror doctors' because they were bonafide medical professionals in their day jobs, though their licences have now been cancelled – were radicalised after coming in contact with a Maulvi Irfan Ahmed, sources said.
Last week intelligence sources revealed Ahmed's name to NDTV and confirmed that he is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian. Further details, though, were sketchy.
NDTV can now reveal the first meeting between Ahmed – who has links to terrorists from the Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammed terror group – and (former Dr) Muzamil Shakeel, who worked at the Al-Falah Hospital in Haryana's Faridabad, which rapidly became the centre of this terror cell.
It was in Shakeel's possession – in two rented rooms in Faridabad – that cops found 2,950 kg of explosives, including ammonium nitrate used in the car bomb. This was hours before Umar-un-Nabi, aka Umar Mohammad, drove the Hyundai i10 across Delhi and detonated it outside the Red Fort.
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Ahmed met Shakeel and Nabi in 2023, while accompanying a patient, whose identity and link to the terror conspiracy are unclear at this time, to the Government Medical College in Srinagar.
They exchanged phone numbers and in messages and calls over the next two years, Ahmed would radicalise both Shakeel and Nabi; to such an extent the latter, in a video that emerged this week, calmly discusses suicide bombing, which he called "a misunderstood concept".
Sources told NDTV Shakeel and Nabi also introduced other colleagues to Ahmed, who used extremist ideology and material – shared via a channel on messaging app Telegram – to try and radicalise them too. Ahmed also arranged meetings with Jaish terrorists in south Kashmir.
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That meeting would prove to be crucial, the first step, as it were, in the Red Fort car blast plan. Officials familiar with the investigation said the Jaish terrorists supplied the 'terror doctors' with two assault rifles.
One of the rifles was found in the Maruti Suzuki Swift Dzire of Shahina Saeed, another 'terror doctor' code-named 'Madam Surgeon'. Investigators believe is a senior leader of the Jaish-e-Mohammed's women's wing – the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind – which was set up by JeM founder after Operation Sindoor.
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The second was recovered from the GMC in Srinagar, from locker of another doctor and member of this cell – Adil Ahmad Rather. It was Rather's activities – he was caught on CCTV putting up posters supporting Jaish across J&K's Nowgam – that helped cops crack the cell.
Rather was arrested from Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur and his interrogation revealed the conspiracy, leading then to the arrests of Shakeel, the recovery of the explosives and the identification of Saeed. Unfortunately, though, the police were not able to stop the bomb itself.
READ | White Collar Terror Ecosystem In J&K, 2,900 kg Of IED-Making Material
The entire operation to bust this terror cell revealed another worrying point – that terrorist groups like JeM are radicalising highly-educated professionals, like doctors in this case. J&K Police confirmed their investigation had revealed a "white-collar terror ecosystem".
Investigations have also revealed a list of 10 names believed to be 'key' members of this cell, including Umar-bin-Khattab, alias Hanjulla, a Pak-based operative with whom Irfan Ahmed was in touch.
