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UP cops track ‘terror module of doctors’ after J&K police cite Srinagar wedding link
A senior UP police official confirmed that the Jammu and Kashmir Police, leading the probe, have detained both the doctors for questioning.
Two doctors who had attended the wedding of Dr Adil Ahmad Rather, central figure in the terror module linked to the November 10 Red Fort blast, were detained for questioning by the UP Police on Wednesday.
Dr Adil is a 31-year-old postgraduate specialist in internal medicine from Qazigund in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.
The probe by the UP Police began after the arrest of Dr Adil from Saharanpur by the Jammu and Kashmir Police on November 6, which has now revealed how a “wedding event” allegedly served as a covert congregation for the module’s operatives.
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UP police along with their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir, who executed the operation in Saharanpur and Lucknow, said Dr Adil’s marriage ceremony in Srinagar on October 4 allegedly served as the meeting point for the module’s key members and facilitators, said police investigators privy to the development. They said Dr Adil’s two colleagues, Dr Aslam Zaidi and Dr Bilal Ahmad, from the same Saharanpur hospital were in attendance at the wedding.
A senior UP police official confirmed that the Jammu and Kashmir Police, leading the probe, have detained both the doctors for questioning, while efforts are underway to identify others present at the ceremony. He claimed investigators believe that the ceremony doubled as a meeting ground for key members and facilitators of the module.
Also Read: Adil Ahmad Rather: Full-time doctor with ties to terror outfit JeM
A senior UP police official, who oversaw the Jammu and Kashmir police operation in UP, said, “We too are verifying on our part if any other doctors including a Lucknow based doctor, Dr
Parvez Ansari, who was taken in custody from Lucknow on Tuesday and his sister Shaheen Shahid, who was arrested from Faridabad on Monday, had also attended the wedding”.
He suspected that the day after the marriage ceremony, this terror module of doctors and medical professionals, is believed to have begun its operations, which included putting up threat posters targeting Indian soldiers, arranging weapons supplies, and mobilising funds through covert channels.
He alleged that Dr Adil was in-charge of the logistical and financial aspects of the network. He said the group’s long-term plan was to exploit the cover of the medical profession to build a stable funding and transportation channel for their activities.
He added Dr Adil used to earn ₹5 lakh per month while working at the Saharanpur hospital but lived in a rented two-bedroom house in Bapu Bihar Colony, suggesting he might have used his salary to collect funds for funding terror activities.
Sharing details on how this terror module came into light, the official said the first clues about the module surfaced on October 19, when posters bearing the insignia of the banned outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed appeared in Kashmir’s Nowgam area.
“A case was registered there, and on October 27, another set of over 25 posters surfaced. Jammu and Kashmir police team scrutinised footage of CCTV cameras around, eventually spotting Dr Adil moving around the areas where the posters had been pasted,” he narrated the sequence of how Dr Adil came under the police radar and added, “Through phone surveillance, investigators found that Adil was in touch with Pakistani handlers. His location was traced to Saharanpur, leading to his arrest on November 6”.
During interrogation, he allegedly revealed a network spanning Delhi-NCR, Haryana, and J&K, identifying other operatives including Dr Shaheen Shahid, her brother Dr Parvez Ansari, and Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie.
His disclosures led police to a raid in Faridabad, on November 9 where security forces found a godown rented under his instructions by Muzammil. There investigators found 350-360 kg of ammonium nitrate, two AK-47s, 200 rounds, 20 electronic timers, detonators, and IED components — material capable of multiple large-scale blasts.
He said Shaheen, who completed her MBBS from Allahabad Medical College and served as an assistant professor at Kanpur Medical College for seven years, disappeared in 2021. She later came in contact with Dr Muzammil. She was arrested from a private medical university in Faridabad and later taken to Srinagar for questioning.
UP ATS has detained her brother, Dr Parvez from Lucknow, who was serving as a professor at a private minority university.
