Delhi blast probe: NIA finds Pakistan funding, role of unknown terror group under scanner

Red Fort blast

More than a month after the deadly blast outside Delhi’s Red Fort that killed 11 people and injured several others, investigators are no longer ruling out the involvement of a previously unidentified Pakistan-based terror outfit, even as the role of established groups such as Jaish-e-Mohammad has not been established so far, sources familiar with the ongoing investigation have said.

According to sources cited by The Tribune, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has traced the funding of the November 10 attack to Pakistan, marking a significant development in the probe. Investigators believe the blast may have been part of a larger sequence of attacks planned by the perpetrators, though the identity of the outfit behind the operation is still being ascertained.

While early stages of the investigation did not reveal any direct foreign linkage, speculation had centred on the possible involvement of JeM. However, officials now say the evidence does not support the involvement of any known major terror organisation. Instead, the probe is pointing towards a relatively new Pakistan-based outfit, which investigators suspect may also be operating as a sleeper cell, The Tribune cited sources as saying.

The funding trail, which investigators say leads across the border, has emerged as one of the strongest indicators of external involvement. Officials caution that while the financial links have been established, the organisational structure and command behind the attack remain under investigation.

The eight accused arrested in connection with the blast are currently undergoing sustained interrogation by the NIA. The latest arrest was made on December 9, when the agency detained Bilal Naseer Malla, a doctor from Baramulla in Kashmir, taking the total number of accused to eight.

Malla, a resident of Shutloo village in Rafiabad area of Baramulla district, had completed his MBBS from Government Medical College, Srinagar and registered with the Jammu and Kashmir Medical Council last year, official sources said. He later moved to Haryana and joined Al Falah University in Faridabad as a junior resident in the paediatrics department.

Investigators have noted that Malla worked at the same university as Umer-un-Nabi, who has been identified as the suicide bomber in the Delhi attack. Umer was driving the explosive-laden i20 car that detonated outside the Red Fort on November 10.

As per reports, Malla was closely associated with Umer and had knowledge of his activities. However, the investigation has so far found no evidence of Malla’s prior involvement in militancy.

On December 12, a Delhi court remanded three doctors and a preacher arrested in the case to 12 days of judicial custody. Malla was also produced before Principal and Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna for the authentication of his voice sample.

The four other accused — Dr Muzammil Ganai, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheena Saeed and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay — were produced before the court after the expiry of their four-day NIA custody granted on December 8.

With the funding source now traced and multiple arrests made, investigators say the focus has shifted to identifying the precise network behind the attack and determining whether the module was part of a wider, coordinated terror plan.