Red Fort blast: 48 Al Falah staffers questioned, probe moves to Delhi hospitals

Nearly three weeks after the explosive attack outside Delhi’s historic Red Fort, the investigation has turned a sharp gaze toward Faridabad’s Al Falah University, where three accused members of the terror module were employed. Sources close to the probe reveal that 48 staffers, including around 30 doctors, have been summoned to recount their interactions with Umar Nabi, the primary accused, in an effort to reconstruct his movements in the critical days leading up to the attack, The Indian Express reported.

Apart from Umar, the terror module also included Dr Muzammil Ganai, a resident of Pahalgam, and Dr Shaheen Shahid Ansari from Lucknow, both employed at Al Falah. Other accused members include Dr Adeel Rather, affiliated with a private hospital in Saharanpur, and Kashmir cleric Mufti Irfan Wagay. On Wednesday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) arrested Soyab, a ward boy at Al Falah University, for allegedly providing logistical support to Umar prior to the blast.

The investigation has now spread beyond the campus. Security agencies have reached out to private hospitals across Delhi, requesting records to identify doctors who earned their MBBS degrees in Bangladesh, the UAE, China, or Pakistan and are currently practising in the city. The move is aimed at mapping professional networks that could illuminate connections relevant to the terror module. One official noted, “We suspect Umar’s network extended beyond Al Falah,” while cautioning that the probe is still in its preliminary stages.

A significant breakthrough came with the recovery of Umar’s mobile phone in a drain in Pulwama by the Jammu and Kashmir Police. Investigators are now meticulously examining call detail records, which have revealed contacts at the university, helping authorities trace Umar’s interactions and conduct. Delhi Police Special Cell, pursuing a separate line of inquiry into what it calls a “deeper conspiracy”, now has access to these records to examine the broader web surrounding the blast.

Al Falah University, in the meantime, has sought to distance itself from the case. It stated that it has “no connection with the said persons apart from their official employment” and described reports linking the institution to the terror module as “baseless and defamatory.” Investigators, however, continue to scrutinize CCTV footage from the campus and plan to question staffers over the coming weeks. Some have been interviewed on campus, others at their homes, and several at agency offices, all contributing to a slowly emerging picture of Umar Nabi’s enigmatic persona.

Sources describe Umar as withdrawn, erratic, and unpredictable—a man whose moods swung from icy silence to unexpected cordiality, leaving colleagues perplexed. “He was rude, unpredictable, and spoke very little. Sometimes he ignored colleagues who greeted him; at other times, he was unexpectedly friendly. Overall, he remained a very mysterious figure,” one official said.

In a further move, authorities have sealed two rooms in Building No. 17 of the university’s boys’ hostel, previously occupied by Umar and Ganai. The duo also held keys to a rented room near the campus, where investigators uncovered several hundred kilograms of explosive-making material, intensifying fears about the reach and planning of the terror module.

As the probe widens its net from Al Falah University to Delhi hospitals, authorities continue to piece together the intricate web of connections and clandestine networks behind the Red Fort blast, promising weeks of rigorous questioning and painstaking reconstruction of events leading to one of the capital’s most alarming terror attacks in recent memory.