Red Fort blast’s Faridabad circle: Doctors in the dock

Police suspect Umar was attempting to relocate or destroy evidence after the crackdown on the module’s storage network. Though officials have identified him as the driver, DNA testing is underway to confirm the charred remains found inside the mangled vehicle.

His mother and two brothers were detained from their home in Koil village, Pulwama, for questioning and to provide DNA samples.

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Umar had been absconding for nearly 10 days before the explosion, according to investigators. A graduate of Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar, in 2017, he obtained his medical registration a year later and worked across hospitals in Srinagar, Anantnag, and Faridabad. Investigators said he had been living for the past three years near Al-Falah Medical College and Hospital in Faridabad, where he worked as an assistant professor.

Unmarried and described by family as quiet and studious, Umar lived alone in a modest rented room and was preparing to marry soon, according to relatives.

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He had close ties with two other doctors – Adeel Rather and Muzammil Ganaia, both from Kashmir, who have since been arrested in connection with the module. Police say the three doctors, along with a small circle of associates, operated a terror logistics network stretching from Pulwama to NCR, linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

“In Anantnag, Umar worked as a senior resident at GMC, where he met Dr Adeel. Later, in Faridabad, he and Dr Muzammil worked at Al-Falah University,” said a Delhi Police Special Cell officer.

Another officer said that CCTV footage from Faridabad’s Sector 37, captured on October 29, shows Umar driving the same i20 with two known associates, both now under investigation. Police believe Umar and Muzammil may have planned the blast together. “We have information that he and Muzammil had known each other for years and were planning this at the university,” said the officer cited above.

After raids on November 9 uncovered 2,900kg of ammonium nitrate, detonators, timers, and rifles from the Faridabad hideouts, Umar reportedly went into hiding in Dhauj village, about 15 km away, avoiding all digital communication.

Investigators said that he used five mobile numbers, all switched off after October 30, and stopped attending university or medical duties. “He was under pressure and knew the circle was closing in,” said another senior officer. “When the ammonium nitrate seizures became public, he fled toward Delhi with ammonium nitrate fuel oil and a detonator.”

On November 10, the i20 was seen near Red Fort Metro Station before a powerful explosion ripped through the area, damaging nearby vehicles. Investigators recovered traces of ammonium nitrate fuel oil consistent with the chemical compound stored by the module.

Police believe at least 10 people were part of the module, five or six of them doctors. The group allegedly used their academic credentials and access to chemicals for assembling explosive devices.

Back in Pulwama, Umar’s family insists they were unaware of his activities. His sister-in-law, Muzamila, said the family last spoke to him just two days before the blast. “We spoke to Umar on Friday. He said he would come home soon,” she said. “He was so attached to my children, always playing cricket with them. He wasn’t a social person. He only studied and worked.”

Family members said they had urged Umar to come home, worried about “some tensions” he mentioned vaguely.

“We thought it was stress from work or exams,” said his sister-in-law, adding that Umar had not visited Pulwama for two months.

“They don’t know what he was doing. He had only told them that he was stressed due to exams (of students) and his work” said the third officer of the Special Cell.

The Delhi Police’s Special Cell has registered an FIR under sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, the Explosives Act, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita relating to murder and attempt to murder. Forensic teams are examining residues from the blast site to match with samples from the Faridabad caches, while agencies trace the financing and communication trail that bound this cluster of educated young doctors into what officials are calling one of the most unusual terror modules uncovered in recent years.

Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie

To his classmates and professors at Al-Falah Medical College and Hospital in Dhauj, Faridabad, Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie was a quiet, soft-spoken resident doctor, known more for his diligence in clinical rotations than for signs of radicalisation. Yet the 35-year-old from Koil village in Pulwama is now a central figure in the multi-agency investigation into the Red Fort blast.

Muzammil was arrested on October 30, more than 10 days before the explosion, after the interrogation of his associate, Dr Adeel Rather, revealed his role in a network of radicalised medical professionals. Investigators accuse him of stockpiling over 2,900 kilograms of ammonium nitrate and other bomb-making materials in two rented rooms in Dhauj and Fatehpur Taga villages on the outskirts of Faridabad.

Both spaces, taken on modest monthly rents of ₹1,200 and ₹1,400 with little documentation, allegedly served as a “terror logistics base” where detonators, timers, batteries, and metal fragments were stored and assembled, according to investigators.

Faridabad Police said Muzammil used his low profile as a medical student to operate unnoticed while coordinating with Dr Adil and another doctor Dr Umar Un Nabi, both from Kashmir. Nabi is believed to be the man driving the car that exploded near Red Fort on Monday.

Investigators said they believe Muzammil was responsible for the storage and transport of explosives across the National Capital Region and that he handled much of the module’s technical and logistical planning.

“The rooms were clearly meant for storage and assembly… He had built a system that could support a large-scale operation,” said Varun Dahiya, ACP (Crime), Faridabad.

Haryana Police officials said they also discovered that Muzammil regularly travelled within NCR in a Swift car that was registered to Lucknow-based doctor Shaheen Shahid. He allegedly used it to commute between his college, the rented rooms, and Delhi, and forensic teams suspect the vehicle was used to ferry explosives and other materials. His encrypted communications and financial transactions are being scanned for potential links to foreign handlers.

Back in Pulwama, his family said on Tuesday that they were stunned by the allegations. His brother, Azad Shakil, said Muzammil had come home in June when their father underwent surgery. “We have nothing to do with terrorism. For 50 years there’s never been a single case against us. Our family was even targeted by stone-pelters for supporting India,” he said. “He (Muzammil) was respected here as a doctor. You can ask anyone.”

Muzammil’s mother, Naseema, said her son left home about four years ago to work in Delhi. “We learned of his arrest from others and tried to meet him, but the police didn’t allow it,” she said. The family said he was expected home for his sister’s wedding on November 10 – the day of the Red Fort blast — that was cancelled soon after his arrest.

Shaheen Shahid

LUCKNOW/KANPUR Dr Shaheen Shahid, 43, once a government medical lecturer in Kanpur, is among those arrested for her alleged role in a terror module stretching from Kashmir to Delhi. Born and raised in the narrow lanes of Hata Mustafa Khan in Khandari Bazar, Lucknow, Shaheen was the daughter of Shahid Ansari, a retired staffer in the state health department.

Her family said she had wanted to become a doctor since childhood. After completing her MBBS from a government college in Prayagraj, she joined GSVM Medical College, Kanpur, as a lecturer in 2006, securing the post through the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission examination.

Her career, however, began to unravel soon after. Colleagues at GSVM recalled that Shaheen worked diligently for about three years before developing professional differences with a senior colleague. She was transferred to Kannauj in 2009, but returned to Kanpur within six months. By 2013, she had stopped reporting to duty altogether, officials at the college told HT, asking not to be identified. Despite repeated letters and notices sent to her Lucknow address, she never responded, leading to her dismissal in 2021 for prolonged absence, they said.

Shaheen was married to an ophthalmologist from Maharashtra, who also briefly taught at GSVM. The couple reportedly divorced in 2015. Since then, she had lived a reclusive life, cutting ties with her family and colleagues. For the last six years, she had not returned to her home in Lucknow, her father said.

Investigators allege that Shaheen was living in Faridabad with Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaia, one of the module’s key accused, and that the two were in a relationship, according to officials of the UP ATS. Her younger brother, Dr Parvez Ansari, was arrested for links to the same network on Tuesday. When police arrived at her father’s house, neighbours were stunned. “It was only a month ago that I spoke to my daughter,” Shahid Ansari said. Former colleagues described her as intelligent but increasingly withdrawn in her later years. “She was good at her work… But after her transfer to Kannauj, something changed. None of us imagined her life would take this turn,” said one senior doctor at GSVM.

Adeel Ahmed Rather

MEERUT: Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, a 31-year-old postgraduate specialist in internal medicine from Qazigund in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir, has emerged as the central figure in the terror module linked to the November 10 Red Fort blast.

A former senior resident at Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag, Rather completed his MBBS and MD before joining the college’s internal medicine department, where colleagues described him as diligent but withdrawn.

In March 2025, he moved to Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, first joining V-Bros Hospital and later Famous Medicare, where police records show he earned about ₹5 lakh a month and treated up to 50 patients daily. He lived in a rented two-bedroom house in Bapu Bihar Colony, keeping to himself except for the occasional late-night visitor, neighbours told police, according to investigators.

Rather took sudden leave on September 26 and married a fellow doctor from Jammu on October 4 in a small ceremony, returning to Saharanpur shortly after. Three weeks later, on the night of October 27, pro-Jaish-e-Mohammad posters appeared on walls in Srinagar’s Rainawari and Zadibal areas, glorifying terrorists and calling for jihad. CCTV footage and mobile data later linked the act to Rather.

He was arrested on November 6 from Famous Medicare Hospital during duty hours by a joint team of J&K Police and UP’s Special Operations Group. During interrogation, he allegedly revealed a network spanning Delhi-NCR, Haryana, and J&K, identifying other operatives including Dr Shaheen Shahid, her brother Dr Parvez Ansari, and Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie.

A day after his arrest, police recovered an AK-47 rifle and ammunition from his GMC locker, prompting charges under the Arms Act. His disclosures led police to a raid in Faridabad, on November 9 where security forces found a godown rented under his instructions by Muzammil. There investigators found 350-360 kg of ammonium nitrate, two AK-47s, 200 rounds, 20 electronic timers, detonators, and IED components — material capable of multiple large-scale blasts.

Police allege Rather used the site to store explosives and coordinate logistics, with Muzammil, admitting to handling the cache on his orders. Investigators believe he maintained ties with both JeM, the group behind the 2019 Pulwama attack, and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), a local offshoot advocating Sharia rule. Financial scrutiny revealed ₹15-20 lakh transferred from his Axis Bank account in Saharanpur to his brother’s account in Srinagar, raising suspicions of hawala-based terror funding.

Famous Medicare Hospital manager Manoj Mishra said the staff was stunned by the revelations. “He was soft-spoken, disciplined, and professional. We never had the slightest suspicion about his background. We hired him in March 2025 through another physician. After receiving information from the police, his services have been terminated immediately,” Mishra said. Another senior doctor, Dr Babar, has been suspended.

Parvez Ansari

The Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) and central agencies have arrested a Lucknow-based doctor, Dr Parvez Ansari, 41, for allegedly playing a key role in the module behind the November 10 Red Fort blast. Ansari is the younger brother of Dr Shaheen Shahid — arrested in Faridabad in early November for her role in the same network, said ATS officials familiar with the probe.

Lucknow ADCP (North) Amol Murkut said that ATS and local police teams had searched Ansari’s house in Muttakipur on IIM Road under Madiaon police station on Monday night and Tuesday morning. Multiple mobile phones, electronic devices, and documents were seized from the house. The search, officials said, was based on inputs from Haryana and J&K police.

Ansari is under interrogation by J&K police and the UP ATS.

Ansari’s father told investigators that his son had bought the separate house in Madiaon a year ago. Ansari worked at a private minority university in Lucknow; university officials said Ansari, who completed his MBBS in Lucknow in 2011 and MD in Agra in 2015, was serving as a senior resident since July 2021 but abruptly resigned on November 6 – a day before news broke of Dr Adeel Rather’s arrest in Kulgam, the first of several doctor arrests in a case that started with JeM posters being put up in Kashmir, and ended with a blast in Delhi – and vanished soon after.

ATS officials said dust-covered furniture and an unused car at Ansari’s home indicated he had fled several days earlier. Neighbours described him as a quiet man who offered regular prayers at a local mosque but rarely interacted with others. “Ansari’s disappearance is deeply suspicious. The recovery from his home suggests the module may involve more operatives than identified so far,” a senior ATS officer said, asking not to be named.