Doctors, explosives, dark designs

For a 36-year-old Assistant Professor, Dr Umar Nabi, hailing from the South Kashmir district of Pulwama, life was going smoothly while he was serving at Al-Falah Medical College in Faridabad. However, a sudden turn of events turned him into a maniac. Also, the woman doctor, arrested in connection with the huge explosives haul in Faridabad near Delhi, was tasked with establishing the women’s wing of the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) in India, according to security agencies' sources on Tuesday.

The Lucknow-based doctor has been identified as Dr Shaheena Shahid. She was handed over the command of JeM’s women’s wing, Jamaat ul-Mominaat, which is headed by JeM founder Masood Azhar’s sister Sadia Azhar, in Pakistan. Her husband, Yusuf Azhar, was a mastermind in the Kandahar hijacking and was reportedly killed during Operation Sindoor on May 7, according to officials. An assault rifle was recovered from her car.

Shaheen was reportedly associated with Kashmiri doctor Muzammil Ganaie, alias Musaib, who was arrested after 2,900kg of explosives and inflammable material were recovered from his two rented rooms in Faridabad. Hours before the powerful blast rocked the Red Fort area, police teams had busted a White Collar terror module in Faridabad. The terror module included names of some of his close associates, namely Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather of Kulgam and Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganie of Pulwama.

Sustained interrogations by the Jammu and Kashmir Police teams led to the discovery of the massive explosives cache and pointed towards a broader network of educated professionals being recruited for covert terror operations at the behest of their handlers sitting across Pakistan.

According to police, Dr Umar, who was in touch with the two arrested doctors, went missing after their detention. According to investigating agencies, the hot chase led them to his native village of Pulwama.

Dr Umar recently got engaged, and his family was looking forward to solemnising his marriage at the earliest. He briefly spoke to his family last Friday and assured them that he would be visiting home in a couple of days. On Tuesday, J&K Police detained his ailing father, Ghulam Nabi Bhat, for questioning and his mother was asked to undergo DNA testing to confirm whether the charred remains found at the blast site belonged to him.

The police teams have also rounded up several doctors who were working with blast suspect Umar Nabi in Faridabad.