- Faridabad terror module mastermind identified as Imam Irfan Ahmad, a resident of J&K's Shopian
- He was earlier a paramedical staff member at Government Medical College in Srinagar
- Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed inspired Ahmad and he even showed videos of JeM to students
The mastermind behind the terror module in Haryana's Faridabad which the police and security agencies have smashed has been identified as Imam Irfan Ahmad. He is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian.
Ahmad is among seven suspects arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police following the recovery of weapons and bomb-making chemicals in Faridabad, and the blast near the Red Fort in Delhi on Monday that killed nine.
Ahmad is instrumental in radicalizing medical students, sources said, adding he worked on them patiently and pushed them toward an extremist ideology.
He was earlier a paramedical staff member at Government Medical College in Srinagar. He kept in touch with several students whom he met at a mosque in Nowgam, sources said.
Ahmad gradually influenced medical students in Faridabad with radical thoughts, they said, adding the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed inspired him. He even showed videos of JeM to his students regularly.
He was in touch with some people in Afghanistan through VoIP or calls made using data connection. His objective was to deeply embed extremist thinking into the minds of the students, sources said.
The two doctors, Muzammil Shakeel and Mohammad Umar, were actively advancing this mission. The entire module is believed to have been conceptualised by Ahmad, sources said.
Sources said the Delhi blast was carried out by Mohammad Umar in a state of panic after the Faridabad module was exposed. Umar had direct links with Maulvi Irfan Ahmad.
Dr Shaheen Sayeed, a resident of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, has surfaced as the financier and supporter of this module. She taught at Al-Falah University and is said to be the India commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed's women's wing, Jamaat-ul-Mominaat.
