'White collar' terror module was scouting for suicide bomber since last year: Officials

New Delhi/Srinagar: The sophisticated 'white-collar' terror module, spearheaded by a group of doctors recently busted by Jammu and Kashmir Police, had been actively scouting for a suicide bomber since last year, with key planner Dr Umar Nabi pushing the agenda, officials said on Sunday.

Interrogation of an arrested co-accused was indicative that Umar, believed to have been killed while driving the explosives-laden car that blew up near the Red Fort on November 10, was a "hardcore radical" and insisted that a suicide bomber was essential for their operations.

Immediately, Srinagar police sent a team to Qazigund in south Kashmir and detained Jasir alias 'Danish', a bachelor in political sciences, on the basis of questioning of the co-accused, including Dr Adeel Rather and Dr Muzzaffar Ganaie.

Srinagar police led by its SSP, Dr G V Sundeep Chakravarthy, cracked the entire 'white collar' terror module.

The detained person agreed to have met the 'Doctor module' in October last year at a mosque in Kulgam from where he was taken to a rented accommodation at the Al Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana.

The detained person said that while others in the module wanted him to be a over-ground worker (OGW) for the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, he was intensely brainwashed by Umar for several months to become a suicide bomber.

The plan, however, collapsed in April this year after the man backed out, citing his poor economic condition and the belief that suicide was forbidden in Islam.

The suicide bomber scouting plot adds a dangerous new dimension to the investigation into the interstate terror network linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

As reported by PTI earlier, Umar, a 28-year-old doctor from Pulwama, emerged as the most radicalised and key operative in the network spanning Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, and officials believe he was planning a powerful vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) blast timed around the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on December 6.

However, his plans were to place a VBIED around a crowded place, either in the national capital or at some place of religious importance, and disappear, the officials said, piecing together the evidence.

According to the interrogation of the co-accused, Umar's transformation began after a trip to Turkiye in 2021 with co-accused Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, where they allegedly met JeM OGWs.

Following the trip, Umar and Ganaie, who taught at the Al Falah University, began accumulating vast 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 Srinagar police's meticulous investigation led to Ganaie's arrest and the seizure of the explosives, triggering a possible panic in Umar which finally ended with a premature blast outside the Red Fort that left 13 people dead.

The intricate interstate terror network was exposed after a small but significant incident of JeM posters appearing on the walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, on the outskirts of Srinagar on October 19.

Srinagar police registered a case and reviewed CCTV camera 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 against their names.

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.