Red Fort Bomb Blast Case: NIA Files 7,500-Page Chargesheet Against 10 Accused Linked to Al-Qaeda-Backed Terror Module
The National Investigation Agency on Thursday submitted an extensive 7,500-page chargesheet against 10 individuals accused in connection with the deadly Red Fort car bomb explosion that killed 11 people and left several others injured on November 10 last year.
The massive chargesheet was filed before the special NIA court at Patiala House Courts in Delhi, according to an official spokesperson.
Investigators stated that all 10 accused, including the alleged mastermind Dr Umer Un Nabi, who died in the blast itself, had links with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, a terror outfit associated with Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent.
The organisation had been officially declared a terrorist group by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs in 2018.
The chargesheet includes serious offences registered under multiple laws, including the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, the Explosive Substances Act of 1908, the Arms Act of 1959, and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, 1984.
Officials said proceedings against Dr Umer Un Nabi, a resident of Pulwama and a former assistant professor of medicine at Al-Falah University, are proposed to be closed because of his death during the explosion.
Apart from Nabi, the other accused 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 NIA revealed that the investigation stretched across several states and regions, including Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Delhi-NCR.
During the probe, investigators recorded 588 witness statements, examined more than 395 documentary records, and collected over 200 physical exhibits connected to the case.
According to the agency, the investigation — which was later transferred from Delhi Police to the NIA — exposed an extensive extremist conspiracy allegedly involving radicalised medical professionals influenced by AQIS and AGuH ideology.
The agency claimed that during a secret gathering held in Srinagar in 2022, the accused allegedly revived the terror outfit under a new structure named “AGuH Interim” after their failed attempt to migrate to Afghanistan through Turkey.
Under this regrouped network, they allegedly launched a plan codenamed “Operation Heavenly Hind,” aimed at destabilising India’s democratic system and replacing it with Sharia-based governance.
Investigators further alleged that the group actively recruited new members, spread extremist propaganda, collected weapons and ammunition, and manufactured explosive devices using commercially available chemical materials.
According to the probe, the accused had designed and tested several improvised explosive devices, including the highly dangerous Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) explosive used in the Red Fort blast.
Officials said these explosive formulas were refined through covert experimental trials conducted secretly by the accused.
The NIA stated that the identity of Dr Umer Un Nabi was conclusively established through DNA fingerprint analysis after he died in the explosion.
The case was further strengthened through forensic examinations, voice sample analysis, and evidence gathered from locations in Jammu and Kashmir as well as Al-Falah University.
Investigators also claimed the accused illegally acquired prohibited weapons, including AK-47 rifles, Krinkov assault rifles, and locally manufactured pistols, along with live ammunition.
The group allegedly experimented with drone-based and rocket-mounted IED systems intended to target security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and other regions of the country.
The agency further alleged that the accused sourced laboratory equipment such as MMO anodes, electrical circuits, and switching devices through both online platforms and offline purchases to support their bomb-making operations.
Officials said the terror module was planning to expand its activities across different parts of India before security agencies dismantled the network.
So far, 11 arrests have been made in the case, while the NIA continues its search for absconding suspects whose involvement surfaced during the course of the investigation.
