Delhi Red Fort blast: Inside the deadly doctor network behind white-collar terror

Dubai: As the investigation into the Red Fort car blast that killed 13 and injured more than 20 deepens, investigators say they are uncovering a disturbing pattern — a network of doctors and medical students allegedly linked to terrorist outfits. What began as a raid in Faridabad has evolved into a full-scale probe into what police describe as a “white-collar terror ecosystem.”

Indian media reported that three more doctors from Faridabad’s Al Falah University were taken into custody on Tuesday as part of the expanding investigation.

The National Investigation Agency has now assumed charge of the case. Officers from the Delhi Police Crime Branch visited the campus, examined CCTV footage, and questioned staff and students about the doctors whose names surfaced in connection with the explosives recovered from Faridabad and the blast that followed.

The doctors under scrutiny are Dr Muzammil Shakeel, Dr Umar Mohammad, and Dr Shaheen Shahid. Muzammil and Umar, both from Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, and Shaheen from Lucknow, had been working at Al Falah University Hospital. Investigators believe all three were connected to the Jaish-e-Mohammad and its offshoot, Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

The trail began when police recovered about 2,900 kg of ammonium nitrate and weapon components from two rooms rented by Muzammil Shakeel in Faridabad.

Who is Dr Umar Mohammad?

• Dr Umar Mohammad, 36, was a medical practitioner from Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, working at Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad, Haryana.

• Born on February 24, 1989, in Koil village, he came from a modest background — his father was mentally unwell and his mother struggled to raise the family. Umar studied hard, earned his MBBS degree from Government Medical College, Srinagar, in January 2017, and later joined Al Falah as a junior doctor.

• Investigators believe he was radicalised over time and linked to a Jaish-e-Mohammad module along with two other doctors, Muzammil Shakeel and Adeel Ahmad Rather.

• When the Faridabad module was busted and 2,900 kg of explosives were seized, Umar allegedly panicked and carried out a suicide attack near Delhi’s Red Fort Metro Station on November 10, 2025, killing 13 and injuring over 20.

• CCTV footage shows him as the sole occupant of a white Hyundai i20, which remained parked for nearly three hours before exploding. His family insists he was innocent — describing him as “a bookworm, not a bomber.”

Despite living on the university campus, he had leased those rooms, which investigators say were used for bomb-making. Shortly after the seizure, a white Hyundai i20 exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort Metro station. Police suspect Dr Umar Mohammad, fearing arrest after his associates were caught, triggered a fidayeen-style suicide blast.

Dr Shaheen Shahid, also attached to Al Falah, is alleged to have overseen the India operations of the Jaish women’s wing, Jamaat-ul-Mominaat, reportedly headed by Masood Azhar’s sister, Sadia Azhar. The group is believed to have recruited educated professionals through encrypted social-media networks under the guise of charitable or relief work.

Book worm

Born in 1989 in Pulwama, Dr Umar Mohammad graduated from Srinagar’s Government Medical College and later joined Al Falah Medical College. CCTV footage shows his car parked for nearly three hours near the Sunehri Masjid before the explosion.

His family insists he was a “bookworm, not a bomber,” and that he devoted himself to studies and patients. His mother and brothers have been detained for DNA matching, while relatives in Pulwama maintain that he was framed.

The NIA has now taken over the case, working with the Intelligence Bureau, the NSG, and Delhi Police’s Special Cell under orders from Home Minister Amit Shah. Raids continue across Delhi-NCR, Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir to trace the full extent of the network.

The Red Fort blast and the arrests that followed have shocked India’s medical community and raised urgent questions about how militant recruiters managed to penetrate institutions meant for healing — transforming men and women of science into instruments of terror.