E-Paper
NIA arrests Yasin Ahmad Dar from Delhi, ninth accused in Red Fort blast case
The accused, Yasin Ahmad Dar, a resident of Shopian in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, was caught by NIA from New Delhi
NEW DELHI: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a Shopian resident in connection with the November 10 blast in the national capital’s Red Fort area that killed at least 11 people, the agency said on Thursday.
The accused, Yasin Ahmad Dar, a resident of Shopian in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, was caught by NIA from New Delhi. He is the ninth person to be arrested for the bombing,
“NIA investigations have revealed Yasir’s active role in the conspiracy behind the car bomb blast that rocked the national capital on November 10. An active participant in the conspiracy, he had sworn allegiance and taken an oath for carrying out self-sacrificial operations,” NIA said in a statement.
The statement said Yasir was in close contact with the other accused persons in the case, including Dr Umar Un Nabi, the perpetrator who died in the blast, and Mufti Irfan Ahmad.
Nabi, a Pulwama-based doctor who worked at Al-Falah Hospital in Faridabad, executed the bombing in a Hyundai i20 car on November 10. He entered Delhi around 8 am and then travelled across east, central, and south Delhi before reaching the Red Fort parking in the afternoon, where he spent nearly three hours. He then left around 6:30 pm and detonated the explosion.
According to investigators, Nabi carried out the explosion in panic and desperation following a multi-state crackdown on the so-called “white-collar terror module” by the J&K and Haryana police, a reference to raids at several locations that led to the recovery of nearly 3,000kg of explosive material, along with detonators, timers, and other bomb-making material between November 8 and 10.
After the anti-terror probe agency took over the probe from Delhi Police on November 11, it arrested eight people including Adeel, Moulvi Irfan, and Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai (Pulwama), Dr Shaheen Saeed (Lucknow), Amir Rashid Ali, Jasir Bilal Wani and Soyub (Faridabad).
Officials who didn’t want to be named said this terror module is linked to Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), with foreign handlers operating from Pakistan and other Gulf countries. The agency said on Thursday that it is working closely with various central and state agencies in the case and “continues to move with alacrity to unravel the complete conspiracy behind the terror attack”.
