The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a 7,500-page chargesheet against 10 accused in connection with the car bomb blast that occurred outside the Red Fort, in which 11 persons were killed, and several others were injured, officials said on Thursday. This chargesheet was filed in Delhi's Patiala House Court.
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 linked to Al-Qaida
According to the NIA, 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). Notably, AQIS and all its manifestations were notified as a terrorist organisation by the Ministry of Home Affairs in June 2018.
The chargesheet has been filed under relevant sections 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 Umer Un Nabi (deceased), 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.
The chargesheet is based on an extensive investigation spread across the states of 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.
Jehadi conspiracy
NIA, which has unravelled a major Jehadi conspiracy through detailed scientific and forensic investigation, had 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.
At a clandestine meeting in Srinagar in 2022, the accused had reconstituted the AGuH terror outfit as "AGuH Interim" following a failed Hizrat to Afghanistan via Turkey. Under the umbrella of the newly constituted outfit, they had launched "Operation Heavenly Hind," aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian Government and imposing Sharia rule.
NIA investigation revealed that, as part of the Operation Heavenly Hind, the accused had recruited new members, actively propagated the violent Jehadi ideology of AGuH, stockpiled arms and ammunition, and manufactured explosives on a large scale using commercially available chemicals.
Accused fabricated and tested various types of IEDs
The accused had also fabricated and tested various types of IEDs, NIA found during its investigation in the case RC-21/2025/NIA/DLI. The explosive used in the blast was Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), which was manufactured by the accused, clandestinely procuring constituent ingredients and conducting experiments to perfect the explosive mixture.
NIA, which had taken over the investigation from Delhi Police, had established the identity of the deceased accused as Umer Un Nabi through DNA fingerprinting. 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, as well as Jammu and Kashmir, were subjected to thorough forensic examination, 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 the state of Jammu & Kashmir and other parts of India.
It was also revealed during the investigation that the accused procured laboratory equipments, 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, which were foiled by the busting of the terror module.
A total of 11 persons have so far been arrested in the case, in which NIA is continuing with its efforts to track absconders whose role had surfaced during the investigation.
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