Al-Falah probe widens as investigators dig into recruitment, hostel, and financial records

The agency is specifically looking into whether the accused exploited their positions to recruit others, raise funds, and coordinate logistics for the attack.

FARIDABAD/NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday widened its probe into the alleged terror network operating through Al-Falah Medical College and its parent university in Faridabad, seeking records dating back to 2019 as part of the ongoing investigation into Monday’s deadly Red Fort blast, officials aware of the probe said.

Security personnel examine the site of a car explosion near the Red Fort, in New Delhi on Thursday. (ANI)

Officials said NIA sleuths have demanded extensive details of hostel allocations, faculty recruitment, and financial transactions from Al-Falah University, which runs several educational and research institutions. The agency is specifically looking into whether the accused doctors –including blast suspect Dr Umar Un-Nabi and his associate Dr Muzammil Ganaie – exploited their positions to recruit others, raise funds, and coordinate logistics for the attack.

A senior Haryana Police officer asking not to be identified said, “NIA has sought all records from 2019 onwards – faculty hiring, salary disbursements, hostel allotments, and ID verifications. A special team will scan the files for irregularities in hiring, funding, or transfers.”

Officials confirmed that NIA and Jammu & Kashmir Police jointly visited the university’s Dhauj campus on Thursday and seized over 500 physical and digital records such as employee files, hostel registers, attendance logs, and financial ledgers. Particular focus, they said, is on the hostel blocks where several students from Jammu and Kashmir were staying.

During the inspection, investigators searched faculty rooms and hostels, cloned computer data, and recovered diaries believed to contain coded financial notes. “Both physical and digital evidence will now be cross-verified,” an officer said.

Officials who asked not to be identified added that the investigation has expanded to include the university’s finances. “We are examining whether funding or external grants were diverted to support extremist activity,” said a senior NIA officer in Delhi. “Payment gateways, scholarships, and foreign transactions received since 2019 are under review.”

Two hostel rooms and a laboratory used by Dr Umar and Dr Muzammil have been sealed, and several faculty members and senior students are being questioned. “This is no longer just about one blast,” an investigator said. “It’s about how a place of learning may have been used as cover for something far more sinister.”

Past wrongdoings surface

The widening terror probe has also revived scrutiny of Al-Falah University’s management and financial practices. Delhi Police officials said the university’s director, Javed Ahmed Siddiqui, 61, who has long been associated with the Al-Falah group, is linked to nine other institutions and companies. Siddiqui was previously arrested in a cheating case in 2000 for allegedly misappropriating ₹7.5 crore from investors through fake investment firms.

Police said he was accused of luring investors into shell companies under the Al-Falah banner, including Al-Falah Education Service, Al-Falah Investment Ltd, and Al-Falah Exports, all registered at a common Okhla address. He was jailed for three years before being acquitted in 2005.

On Thursday, NIA and Delhi Police teams raided the Okhla premises and seized land documents and financial files. “We are examining whether any of the old firms or trust accounts were used to route money linked to the accused doctors,” an officer said.

A legal advisor at the Okhla office, Mohammad Raazi, told HT: “We had no idea of the doctors’ activities. Our campus was never used for any funding or experiment linked to terror. The police have taken documents and we are fully cooperating.”