The high-intensity car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10 last year, in which 12 people including the suicide bomber – Dr Omar Unnabi – were killed, was part of the ‘Operation Heavenly India’ plan initiated in 2022 by a group of extremist medical professionals associated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) – an offshoot of Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), and the National Investigation Agency. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) said on Thursday as it filed a chargesheet in the blast.
According to the NIA, this unit, which includes doctors, procured weapons including an AK-47 rifle, a Krenkov rifle, and tested missiles and drone-borne IEDs with the aim of targeting security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India.
For the Delhi blast, the NIA found that the accused persons used the explosive Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) which was manufactured by them by “secretly procuring the constituent ingredients and conducting experiments to perfect the explosive mixture”.
The federal anti-terrorism probe agency submitted a detailed 7,500-page chargesheet to a special court in Patiala House Courts against 10 accused on Thursday.
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“All the 10 accused, including the main perpetrator, Dr. Omar Unnabi (deceased), were associated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) – an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS),” the NIA said in a statement.
AQAP and all affiliated organizations/manifestations were notified as terrorist organizations by the Ministry of Interior in June 2018.
Those named in the chargesheet include Aamir Rashid Mir, Jasir Bilal Wani, Dr Muzammil Shakeel, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, Dr Shaheen Saeed, Mufti Irfan Ahmed Wajai, Suyab, Dr Bilal Naseer Mulla and Yasir Ahmed Dar. The charges against the Prophet have been dropped since his death in the explosion.
“The chargesheet is based on extensive investigations spread across the states of Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Delhi NCR. It includes detailed evidence in the form of 588 oral testimonies, more than 395 documents and more than 200 physical documents that have been seized,” the NIA said.
Highlighting that it had uncovered a major jihadist plot through a detailed scientific and forensic investigation, the NIA said it had found that “the accused, some of whom are extremist medical professionals, were inspired by the ideology of AQAP and the Government of National Accord to carry out the deadly attack.”
It is for this reason, the agency said, that they held a “secret meeting in Srinagar in 2022”, where they reconstituted the AGuH terrorist outfit as an “interim AGuH” after the failure of Hazrat’s trip to Afghanistan via Turkey.
“Under the umbrella of the newly formed group, they launched ‘Operation Celestial India’ aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian government and imposing Sharia law. As part of Operation Celestial India, the defendants recruited new members, spread the violent jihadist ideology of AGuH, stockpiled weapons and ammunition, and manufactured large-scale explosives using commercially available chemicals. They also manufactured and tested various types of explosive devices.”
The federal agency also said it had identified the deceased suicide bomber, Omar Unnabi, through DNA fingerprinting.
Subsequently, the evidence collected from the crime scene, as well as various locations identified by the accused in and around Al Falah University in Faridabad as well as Jammu and Kashmir, were subjected to comprehensive forensic examination, audio analysis etc. as part of the investigation.
While interrogating and searching the arrested persons, the agency found that not only did they carry out the Delhi blast, but the unit was also involved in illegal procurement of banned weapons, including AK-47 rifle, Krennikov rifle, and homemade pistols with live ammunition.
“They experimented with IEDs with missiles and drones with the aim of targeting security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir state and other parts of India. The accused procured laboratory equipment including specialized items like MMO Anode, electrical circuits and switches from various offline and online sources. They also had plans to expand their operations in other parts of the country, which were foiled by the breach of the terror module,” the NIA said.
So far, the NIA has arrested 11 people in the case, and an investigation is underway to track down the fugitives whose roles have emerged.
Officials who did not want to reveal their names told HT that the handler for this unit was another doctor from Kashmir, who was working from Afghanistan and Pakistan, and was said to have been in contact with Nabi around the time of the blast.
