Mastermind tried to recruit second suicide bomber, probe reveals

Investigators probing the white collar terror module behind the Red Fort car bombing revealed that mastermind Dr Umar-un Nabi tried to recruit a second suicide bomber but failed. Officials said the doctor built parallel terror cells to sustain operations across states

New Delhi: Investigations into the “white collar” terror module busted after the recent car bombing near the Red Fort have revealed that the mastermind, Dr Umar-un Nabi, had attempted to recruit a second suicide bomber but failed as the person backed out, citing the need to help his family during the apple harvest, officials said on Sunday.

The Srinagar Police and the National Investigation Agency have uncovered a parallel terror module orchestrated by Nabi, who was driving the explosive-laden vehicle that detonated outside the historic Red Fort on November 10, killing over 12 people.

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Interrogation of the arrested suspects highlighted recruitment tactics used by the doctor-turned-terrorist, leading to the arrest of a Shopian resident, Yasir Ahmed Dar, by the NIA.

Officials said Nabi had successfully radicalised Dar as a potential suicide bomber, but during a meeting in August last year, he backed out at the last minute, citing the apple harvest season and repairs at home as reasons.

According to officials, Dar had been in contact with Nabi since 2023 and admitted that Nabi’s professional status as a medical doctor played a significant role in influencing him, making the extremist rhetoric appear more persuasive and trustworthy.

The probe indicated that Nabi was not merely a terrorist but a strategic recruiter who was actively building secondary, independent cells to ensure continuity of operations even if primary cells were compromised, officials said.

During the investigation, police recovered a voice note from the phone of one of the accused in which he was pronouncing Bayat, an oath of allegiance for jihad.

The name of Dar, a school dropout, had surfaced earlier during investigations when one of his friends joined the ranks of terror groups.

During interrogation, it emerged that he had been in touch with Nabi through Telegram and was repeatedly asked to ensure strong physical training, officials said.

Dar was the second potential suicide bomber Nabi was attempting to rope into the terror module, as he was considered a hardcore radical and Nabi believed that a human bomber was essential for the terror operations, officials said.

As the terror module was exposed by the Srinagar Police last year, one person identified as Jasier alias Danish was arrested from Qazigund in south Kashmir.

A bachelor in political sciences, he admitted to having met the doctor module in October 2024 at a mosque in Kulgam, from where he was taken to a rented accommodation at Al Falah University in Faridabad.

Jasier told investigators that while others in the white collar terror module wanted him to act as an over-ground worker for the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, he was repeatedly brainwashed by Nabi over several months to become a suicide bomber.

The plan collapsed in April last year after he backed out, citing poor financial condition and his belief that suicide was forbidden in Islam.

The suicide bomber scouting plot of the module, cracked by the Srinagar Police under the leadership of Senior Superintendent of Police Dr G V Sundeep Chakravarthy, has added a dangerous new dimension to the investigation into the inter-state terror network linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

As reported earlier by PTI, Nabi, a 28-year-old doctor from Pulwama, emerged as the most radicalised and key operative in the network spanning Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.

Officials believe he was planning a powerful vehicle-borne improvised explosive device blast around the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on December 6.

He planned to place the VBIED at a crowded location, either in the national capital or at a site of religious importance, and then disappear, officials said.

According to the interrogation of co-accused, Nabi’s radicalisation began after a trip to Turkiye in 2021 with Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, where they allegedly met over-ground workers of the Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Following the trip, Nabi and Ganaie, who taught at Al Falah University in Faridabad, began accumulating large quantities of chemicals from the open market, including 360 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur, much of which was stored near the university campus.

The December plot fell apart when the Srinagar Police investigation led to Ganaie’s arrest and the seizure of explosives, causing Nabi to panic and resulting in a premature blast outside the Red Fort.

The inter-state terror network was exposed following the appearance of Jaish-e-Mohammed posters on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, on the outskirts of Srinagar on October 19, 2025.

Srinagar Police registered a case and reviewed CCTV footage, leading to the arrest of three locals, Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, all with prior stone-pelting cases.

Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned Imam from Shopian, who allegedly supplied the posters and used his access to radicalise the doctors.