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Red Fort blast probe: NIA searches suspects’ homes in UP, Kashmir
Working closely with local police units, the agency is now tracking medical professionals and associates allegedly linked to the attacks, those familiar with the investigation added.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday carried out coordinated searches and questioning in Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as it deepened its probe into the Red Fort blast case, which killed 15 people on November 10, and the recovery of 2,900 kg of explosives from Faridabad last month, officials said.
Working closely with local police units, the agency is now tracking medical professionals and associates allegedly linked to the attacks, those familiar with the investigation added.
In Lucknow, an eight-member NIA team reached the Khandari Bazar residence of arrested suspect, siblings Dr Shaheen Ansari and Dr Parvez Ansari, around 5.30 am. Investigators questioned their father, Shaheed Ansari, a former state health department employee, and his elder son, Shoaib, for nearly six hours.
“They were asked about the siblings’ visits home and when they last contacted their father,” a source said. According to the agency’s preliminary findings, Shaheed told investigators he had last spoken to his daughter a month before the Delhi attack, the source added.
Although the NIA did not share operational details or case specifics with the media.
Simultaneously, NIA teams, accompanied by local police, executed searches at eight locations across south Kashmir, primarily in Pulwama, Shopian and Qazigund, an agency spokesperson confirmed.
Investigators said the homes of already arrested suspects in these districts were searched on Monday. So far, the agency has arrested eight people in connection with the blasts, including doctors and clerics, all of whom remain in NIA custody.
Among those named are Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai (Pulwama), Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather (Anantnag), Dr Shaheen Saeed (Lucknow), and Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay (Shopian). The agency also arrested six alleged accomplices linked to prime suspect Umar Un Nabi, officials said.
The suspects include Amir Rashid Ali, in whose name the car used in the attack was registered, and Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, who allegedly provided technical support to Umar, officials added.
