Several Al-Falah University faculty members, locals vanish after massive terror-links crackdown

Al Falah University

The Haryana Director General of Police (DGP), OP Singh, has ordered a sweeping investigation into security lapses at Al-Falah University and directed police to trace all staff and locals who have gone missing from the campus following the busting of a terror module responsible for the deadly Delhi blast.

The directive came during the DGP’s visit to the university on Tuesday, as reported by TOI. The terror module, which plotted the November 10 explosion near the Red Fort metro station that killed 15 people, had significant ties to the university, including an assistant professor who was identified as the suicide bomber.

According to the TOI report, officials confirmed that an unspecified number of faculty members, as well as some locals from the area surrounding the university, have been unaccounted for since the blast. “They have left without any intimation to the university authorities. A few villagers are missing too, but we will trace them soon,” a senior police officer stated.

The investigation has already placed three of the university’s own residents at the heart of the plot. Assistant professor Umar Un Nabi from the department of medicine was later identified as the man driving the i20 car that detonated. Two other professors, Shaheen Shahid and Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, have been arrested in connection with the conspiracy.

Muzammil was the first to be apprehended on October 30. His arrest led police to two rooms he had rented near the university, where a massive cache of approximately 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate and other explosive substances was recovered in a joint operation by Faridabad and Jammu & Kashmir police over a week later.

The DGP, accompanied by ADIG (CID) Saurabh Singh, gathered critical intelligence on the suspects' stay on campus and the locations used for storing the explosives. Following Muzammil's arrest, the plot’s driver, Umar Un Nabi, reportedly left the campus and rented a room in Hidayat Colony in Nuh.

Further evidence gathered by investigating agencies, as seen in CCTV footage, shows Muzammil accompanying his colleague Shaheen to purchase a Brezza vehicle in September. This vehicle was later tracked down to the Al-Falah campus, deepening the institution's entanglement in the case.

The core of the new probe, as initiated by the DGP, will focus on how a cell of radicalised doctors was able to operate from within the university grounds, raising serious questions about campus security and oversight.

Police efforts are now concurrently focused on unravelling the security failures and locating the missing individuals whose disappearances are directly linked to the unfolding investigation.