On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency arrested a ward boy employed at Al Falah University, identified as Soyab, for allegedly providing logistical support to Umar before the attack.
Almost three weeks after the blast outside the Red Fort in the national capital, investigators have intensified their scrutiny of Faridabad’s Al Falah University, where three of the accused were employed. Officials familiar with the probe told The Indian Express that 48 staff members, including about 30 doctors, have been questioned as agencies attempt to reconstruct Red Fort bomber Umar Nabi’s movements and interactions in the days leading up to the blast.
Apart from Nabi, two other members of the now-busted Jaish-e-Mohammed terror module — Pahalgam resident Dr Muzammil Ganai and Lucknow resident Dr Shaheen Shahid Ansari — were working at Al Falah. The other members of the module, who have also been arrested, are Dr Adeel Rather, who was employed at a private hospital in Saharampur, and Kashmir cleric Mufti Irfan Wagay.
On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency arrested a ward boy employed at Al Falah University, identified as Soyab, for allegedly providing logistical support to Umar before the attack.
Simultaneously, the investigation has expanded beyond the campus. According to highly placed sources, security agencies have instructed private hospitals across Delhi to provide records identifying doctors who earned MBBS degrees in Bangladesh, the United Arab Emirates, China or Pakistan and are currently practising in the city.
The request, sources said, is part of a broader effort to map professional networks that could reveal connections relevant to the case. “We suspect Umar’s network extended beyond Al Falah,” one official said, while simultaneously cautioning, “This is still at a very preliminary stage.”
A breakthrough, sources said, came with the recovery of Umar’s mobile phone, which Jammu and Kashmir Police found in a drain in Pulwama. The device has provided investigators with information about individuals at the university with whom he was in touch, officials said. The Delhi Police Special Cell, which has opened a separate case to examine what it calls a “deeper conspiracy” behind the blast, now has access to the call detail records, sources said.
