A special court on Friday extended the custody of two key accused being investigated by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the deadly Red Fort blast case, even as the anti-terror agency continues to unravel the larger conspiracy behind the attack.
Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma granted the NIA ten more days of custody of accused Yasir Ahmed Dar while allowing the agency to interrogate Dr Bilal Naseer Malla for a further eight days.
The court accepted the prosecution’s submission that sustained custodial interrogation was necessary to trace the remaining links of the terror network and verify the material collected so far.
According to the NIA, the car bomb blast outside the Red Fort on November 10 was planned by Umar-un-Nabi, who was driving the explosive-laden vehicle at the time of the attack.
The blast claimed 15 lives and left over two dozen people injured. Umar-un-Nabi later died in the explosion, and forensic examination has confirmed his identity.Dr Malla was arrested in Delhi and has been described by the agency as one of the key conspirators. The NIA has alleged that he knowingly harboured Umar-un-Nabi and provided logistical support, apart from being involved in the destruction of evidence linked to the attack. Dar, arrested on December 18 as the ninth accused, is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir and is alleged to be a close associate of Umar-un-Nabi.
The investigation has so far led to the arrest of nine accused, including medical professionals Dr Muzammil Ganaie, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, and Dr Shaheen Saeed, highlighting the organised and clandestine nature of the terror module.
In a related development, the Special NIA Court at Patiala House Courts recently extended the judicial custody of several other accused till January 8. Those remanded include Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather of Anantnag (J&K), Dr Shaheen Saeed of Lucknow (UP), Dr Muzammil Ganaie of Pulwama (J&K), Amir Rashid Ali, Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, Soyab, and Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay. They were produced before the court after the expiry of their earlier remand.
The NIA has alleged that Amir Rashid Ali facilitated the purchase of the Hyundai i20 car used in the attack, which was later converted into a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED). Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, another accused, is alleged to have provided technical expertise to the module, including modifying drones and attempting to build rockets as part of the terror preparations. The agency has said that Jasir worked closely with Umar-un-Nabi in planning the attack.
The probe agency has forensically established that Umar-un-Nabi, a resident of Pulwama district and an assistant professor in the General Medicine Department at Al Falah University in Faridabad, was the driver of the IED-laden car. Investigators maintain that the attack was executed after meticulous planning and coordination across multiple locations.
The case was handed over to the NIA by the Union Home Ministry soon after the blast. The agency has stated that it is working in close coordination with various state police forces to identify, track, and arrest every individual involved in the terror conspiracy.