'Active role in conspiracy': NIA arrests ninth accused in Red Fort blast probe, held from Delhi

NIA says the Shopian resident was arrested in Delhi and played an active role in the conspiracy behind the November 10 car bomb blast near the Red Fort area.

The National Investigation Agency has arrested Yasir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir, in connection with the car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort area last month. The agency said he is the ninth accused held in the case and was arrested from New Delhi.

The blast took place on November 10. Early official assessments reported at least eight deaths and around 20 injuries; in its latest arrest statement, the NIA described the incident as having killed 11 people and injured several others.

NIA said its investigation shows Dar had an 'active role' in the conspiracy and had sworn allegiance, taking an oath to carry out 'self-sacrificial operations.'

The agency said he was in close contact with other accused, including Umar Un Nabi, described by NIA as the deceased perpetrator of the bombing, and a person named as Mufti Irfan.

The arrest comes amid a broader push by the agency to map the network beyond the blast site, including searches in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, and seizures of digital devices that investigators say are part of the evidence trail.

In earlier actions in the case, NIA also carried out searches linked to accused Dr Shaheen in Lucknow as it widened scrutiny to contacts and movements outside Delhi, according to reports and visuals from the searches.

Nine arrests within weeks is a signal that investigators are treating this not as a lone-actor attack but as a logistics-heavy conspiracy, the kind that typically hinges on safe houses, communications discipline, and local facilitators. The pressure now shifts to the evidentiary spine: device extractions, contact chains, and whether the alleged links hold up under courtroom standards.