Red Fort blast case: NIA files charges against 10 accused

New Delhi: Six months after a car explosion killed more than a dozen people near the Red Fort, the NIA on Thursday said it has filed a 7,500-page chargesheet against 10 accused and exposed a ‘jihadi conspiracy’ being hatched by banned Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, an Al-Qaeda offshoot.

According to a statement issued by the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the accused have been charged under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Explosive Substances Act, Arms Act, and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act.

The voluminous chargesheet was filed before the designated NIA court at Patiala House against 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 accused launched “Operation Heavenly Hind” aimed at overthrowing the Indian government and imposing Sharia rule, said the statement.

The Srinagar Police had busted the blast-linked terror module – dubbed as ‘doctor’ or ‘white-collar’ module because of the involvement of medical professionals – after a meticulous investigation into terror group’s posters found on the city’s outskirts.

While the NIA statement reported 11 fatalities in the high-intensity vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) blast that rocked the national capital on November 10 last year, the death toll later rose to 15. Several people were injured in the explosion, which also caused extensive property damage.   

Main perpetrator Dr Umer Un Nabi, who was driving the explosive laden car, has been mentioned in column two of the chargesheet and the charges against him have been “proposed to be abated”. He was killed in the explosion which is believed to have been triggered in panic after the Faridabad police announced the arrests of the doctors from Al Falah University besides recovery of 300 kg of ammonium nitrate.

All the accused have been linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an offshoot of the Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). The AQIS and all its offshoots were notified as terrorist organisations by the Ministry of Home Affairs in June 2018.

The NIA statement said a major “jihadi conspiracy” was exposed through a detailed scientific and forensic investigation and also that the accused, some of whom radicalised medical professionals, have been inspired by AQIS/AGuH ideology to carry out the deadly attack.

At a clandestine meeting in Srinagar in 2022, the accused reconstituted the AGuH terror outfit as “AGuH Interim” following a failed ‘Hizrat’ (migration) to Afghanistan via Turkiye, it said.

Under the umbrella of the newly constituted outfit, they launched “Operation Heavenly Hind” aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian government and imposing Sharia rule, said the statement