Red Fort blast: NIA nabs close associate of Umar, 9th arrest in case

New Delhi, Dec 18 (PTI) The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a close associate of Red Fort area blast perpetrator Umar-un-Nabi, taking the total number of arrests in the "white-collar" terror module to nine, officials said on Thursday.

The accused, Yasir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Shopian in Jammu and Kashmir, was nabbed from Delhi and placed under arrest under relevant provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the agency said in a statement.

"The 9th person to be arrested in the case, Yasir Ahmad Dar is a resident of Shopian, Srinagar. He was nabbed by NIA from New Delhi and placed under arrest," an NIA spokesperson said.

According to the agency, investigations have revealed Dar's active role in the conspiracy behind the car bomb blast near Delhi's historic Red Fort on November 10.

An active participant in the plot which claimed 15 lives and left several others injured, Dar had allegedly taken an oath to carry out "self-sacrificial operations", the NIA said.

Investigators have further found that Dar was in close contact with other accused in the case, including Umar-Un-Nabi, the deceased perpetrator of the bombing, and Mufti Irfan, a key conspirator, the officials said.

The NIA said it is continuing to work closely with central and state authorities to unravel the full conspiracy behind the terror attack.

Earlier this month, the NIA conducted extensive searches at the premises of several accused and suspects in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, seizing digital devices and other incriminating materials.

Similar searches had earlier been carried out at the Al Falah University premises of prime accused Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed and other locations in Faridabad, Haryana.

After taking over the probe, the NIA had arrested eight persons, including four doctors — Dr Muzammil Ganaie, Dr Adeel Rather, Dr Shaheen Sayeed and Dr Bilal Naseer Malla — and religious preacher Maulvi Irfan.

Two others, Amir Rashid Ali and Jasir Bilal Wani alias Danish, were also arrested. Ali allegedly purchased the car in his name, which was later loaded with explosives, including ammonium nitrate, and detonated near the Red Fort.

On November 26, the agency also arrested Soyab, a resident of Dhauj in Faridabad, for allegedly providing logistical support to Umar before the blast.

The "white-terror" module case has links to posters of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) which surfaced on walls outside Srinagar city on the intervening night of October 18-19, warning of attacks on police and security forces.

Subsequent arrests based on CCTV footage and interrogation of suspects led investigators to Maulvi Irfan and eventually to Faridabad's Al Falah University, where around 2,900 kg of explosives was recovered, exposing what officials described as a "white-collar" terror module. PTI MHS SKL MHS KVK KVK