10 Missing From Al Falah After Blast, Mobiles Switched Off
(Mystery | Deepens) Investigators examining wider terror nexus around varsity
New Delhi:As the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday secured 10 days’ custody of four more accused in the Red Fort blast case, investigators are examining a wider terror nexus centred around Al Falah University and its possible link to fugitive Indian Mujahideen operative Mirza Shadab Baig.
Investigators have flagged the disappearance of 10 individuals, including three Kashmiris associated with Al Falah University, whose mobile phones have been switched off since the blast. This emerged after search teams conducted multiple checks at the Faridabad campus and questioned more than 1,000 people as part of the probe. Nearly 200 doctors, students and staff members have been placed under surveillance following the recovery of over 2,900 kg of explosive material and the arrest of several academics linked to the university.
The NIA took custody of Dr Muzammil Ganaie, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheena Saeed and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay, all of whom were arrested by the Jammu & Kashmir Police last week. They were brought from Srinagar and produced before a Delhi court, which remanded them to 10 days’ custody. With the NIA already interrogating Amir Rashid Ali and Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, the total number of accused currently in its custody has risen to six.
“These individuals played a key role in the terror attack that killed several innocent persons and left many others injured,” the NIA said. The agency formally took over the case on November 11 from the Delhi Police Special Cell. The total number of arrests made in the “white-collar” module by various agencies stands at 10.
In a parallel development, investigators have found troubling links between the Faridabad-based Al Falah University and Baig, prompting agencies to revisit older terror networks that may be connected to the module behind the November 10 attack, which killed at least 15 people and injured several others.
According to Special Cell sources, Baig completed his BTech degree from Al Falah in 2007, when it functioned as an engineering college. He is accused of planting bombs in Gorakhpur the same year and is wanted in connection with the 2008 serial blasts in Rajasthan and Gujarat. Baig fled India after the 2008 attacks and is currently the subject of an active Interpol Red Corner Notice.
Al Falah has now become the focal point of the investigation. Suicide bomber Dr Umar Nabi, who drove the vehicle-borne IED (VBIED), was an assistant professor at the university. Dr Ganaie, from whose rented accommodation in Faridabad the J&K Police seized nearly 3,000 kg of ammonium nitrate and other chemicals, was also employed there.
Earlier this week, university founder and chairman Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a separate money-laundering case involving alleged financial irregularities, forged accreditation documents and diversion of institutional funds.
