Delhi blast probe: NIA recreates blast sequence with Al-Falah doctor in Faridabad

Delhi blast

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday took Al-Falah University doctor Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, arrested in connection with the November 10 Delhi blast, to several locations in Faridabad to recreate the sequence of events in the case. Muzammil, who was earlier in the custody of Jammu & Kashmir Police, was brought to Delhi last week.

The day began with officers taking him to two rented rooms where he had allegedly stored 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate, a powerful explosive. The team also visited the university campus where Muzammil worked and lived, and a room belonging to a cab driver in Dhauj village, TOI reported.

This room is where the doctor is suspected to have kept an electric grinder and a portable furnace, tools believed to have been used for making bombs.

Rooms filled with explosives

Investigators spent several hours examining the two rooms. They found that Muzammil had rented the first room in Dhauj in September for Rs 1,200 a month. The landlord, locally known as “Madrassi,” said the doctor rarely stayed there. “He only brought in his bags. I didn’t know what was happening inside,” he told police.

It was from this Dhauj room that police had earlier seized 358 kg of ammonium nitrate, days before the blast. The NIA team then moved to the second room in Fatehpur Taga, about 4 km from Al-Falah University. On November 9, just one day before the Delhi blast, police had already discovered a huge cache of 2,600kg of explosives there. The owner of this house, a local cleric, was arrested after the recovery.

Investigators believe these two locations were used to store chemicals and equipment required to prepare explosives.

Muzammil was later taken to his accommodation inside the university, which officials believe may have been the centre of planning for the attack. According to the TOI report, Muzammil, along with two other university doctors, Dr Umar Un Nabi, who was inside the i20 car that exploded near Red Fort, and Dr Shahin Shaheed, had been planning the operation for nearly two years.

Diaries earlier seized from their rooms contained coded notes about several planned missions. Officials are now investigating possible links of the trio with suspected handlers in Pakistan and Turkey.

By midnight, the NIA team completed its operations in Faridabad and took Muzammil back to Delhi under heavy security.

Meanwhile, Faridabad Police increased checks across sensitive zones. "We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure the safety of our residents. Our teams have been conducting regular checks and asking people to remain cautious when renting rooms or issuing SIM cards," TOI quoted Yashpal, a spokesperson for Faridabad police, as saying.