2008 IM bomber was also Al-Falah student
NEW DELHI, Nov 23:
The radicalisation of the doctors involved in the recent ‘white-collar’ terror module that came to light with the November 10 Red Fort area bombing began as early as 2019 on social media platforms, officials said on Sunday.
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The investigation so far indicated a concerning shift in cross-border terror strategy, where highly educated professionals were groomed entirely through digital means by handlers operating from Pakistan and other parts of the world, the officials familiar with the probe said.
The members of the terror cell, which included Dr Muzammil Ganaie, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Muzzafar Rather and Dr Umar-un-Nabi, who drove the explosive-laden car on November 10, were initially spotted by handlers across the border while active on social media platforms like Facebook and discussion spaces on X (formerly known as Twitter).
They were immediately shifted to private groups on ‘Telegram’, they said, adding that actual brainwashing started from here.
While Ganai and Adeel are now in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), probing the Red Fort blast, Muzzafar escaped to Afghanistan in August this year, and the process to seek his deportation has already been initiated by the Jammu and Kashmir Police, which unravelled the entire terror module.
They also used YouTube extensively to learn how to create Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) for carrying out terror attacks. Digital footprints analysed during the interrogation identified the primary handlers as ‘Ukasa’, ‘Faizan’ and ‘Hashmi’.
All three have been operating from outside India and their names often crop up in inputs related to the Jaish-e-Mohammed terror network, the officials said.
They said that the recruited doctors had initially expressed intent to join terror groups in conflict zones like Syria or Afghanistan, but were later refrained by their handlers who asked them to continue in India and carry out multiple blasts in the hinterland.
Since 2018, the method of social media radicalisation has seen a tactical change by terror groups, who are trying to recruit people via digital platforms as heightened security measures make direct, face-to-face interactions increasingly difficult.
Once these potential recruits are identified, they are quickly moved into private groups on encrypted messaging apps like Telegram, where they are shown highly manipulative and fabricated content, often in the form of Artificial Intelligence-made videos, meant to drive hate and a narrative towards recruitment.
The recruits undergo virtual training which includes readily accessible YouTube tutorials, before being assigned operational tasks in the region.
The widespread use of Virtual Private Networks and fake profiles helps these terror networks evade detection, using encrypted platforms such as Telegram and Mastodon for encrypted communication.
Meanwhile, ongoing probe has revealed that Al Falah University, which has come under the scanner following the busting of a “white-collar terror module” and the blast near Red Fort, had long-standing links with terror operatives, sources said.
They said fugitive Indian Mujahideen bomber Mirza Shadab Baig — wanted for a series of explosions in 2008 — was a former student of the Faridabad-based university, several of whose doctors were arrested in connection with the Delhi blast case.
Baig, a key Indian Mujahideen (IM) operative accused in the Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Gorakhpur blasts, completed his B.Tech in electronics and instrumentation from the university in 2007, they said.
He disappeared soon after, travelling on his genuine passport, and has been missing since September 19, 2008 — the day of the Batla House encounter in the national capital, the sources said.
Agencies believe Baig, a native of Raja Ka Qila Mohalla in Uttar Pradesh’s Azamgarh, has been living in Saudi Arabia and was last traced to Afghanistan in 2019.
According to the sources, a team of Punjab Police visited the campus, questioning staff members and students about a 45-year-old doctor detained from Pathankot recently.
He had been teaching at a Medical College in Pathankot for three years and before that, taught at Al Falah University for four years, they said.
The doctor was still in contact with several of his fellow students at Al Falah University. The Punjab Police team also collected information about his relationship with Dr Umar-un-Nabi, who was driving the explosives-laden i20 that detonated outside the Red Fort, as well as other accused, sources said. (Agencies)
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