Doctors With Detonators; 350 kg Explosives Seized Near Delhi After Arrest of Kashmiri Medics

SRINAGAR: In a chilling discovery that has sent shockwaves through security agencies, the Jammu Kashmir Police, in a joint operation with Haryana Police, recovered nearly 350 kg of explosives and multiple weapons from a rented room in Faridabad, on the outskirts of the national capital. The recovery, suspected to be ammonium nitrate, comes just days after the arrest of a Kashmiri doctor accused of putting up pro-Jaish-e-Mohammed posters in Srinagar.

The massive seizure marks one of the most alarming recoveries of explosives so close to Delhi in recent years. According to officials, the operation stemmed from disclosures made during the interrogation of Dr Adil Ahmad Rather, a 31-year-old physician from Qazigund in south Kashmir, who was arrested from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh last week.

Investigations have revealed that Rather, formerly a senior resident at the Government Medical College (GMC) in Anantnag, had stored the explosives in Faridabad with another Kashmiri doctor, Dr Mujammil Shakeel, a Pulwama native working at Al-Falah Hospital in Faridabad. Both have now been taken into custody.

Faridabad Police Commissioner Satender Kumar Gupta confirmed the recovery of 350 kg of ammonium nitrate, 20 timers, a pistol, an assault rifle with three magazines and 83 live rounds, as well as a walkie-talkie set. “The material was found in 14 bags in a rented room in the Dhauj area of Faridabad. It is not RDX, but it is certainly inflammable and dangerous. The operation is still underway,” Gupta was told the media, adding that the raids were part of a coordinated anti-terror operation with Jammu and Kashmir Police.

The case’s roots trace back to October 27, when posters supporting the banned terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed appeared in several parts of Srinagar. CCTV footage soon revealed a man pasting the posters, identified as Dr Adil Ahmad Rather. After tracking his movements, a Srinagar Police team, assisted by the Special Operations Group (SOG), traced him to a private hospital on Ambala Road in Saharanpur, where he was working as a medicine specialist.

Following his arrest, police recovered an AK-47 rifle and ammunition from Rather’s personal locker at GMC Anantnag, where he had worked until October last year. The recovery prompted investigators to widen their probe, eventually leading them to the explosives cache in Faridabad.

A senior police officer said the investigations indicate that Rather and Shakeel were in touch with “handlers” believed to be operating from outside India. “We are still probing the motive behind such a huge accumulation of explosives near the national capital. How it was transported undetected remains one of the key questions,” the officer were quoted as saying in the media reports.

Both doctors have been booked under the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Police sources say the arrests point to a worrying new trend — the involvement of educated professionals, including doctors, in organised terror-linked activity.

Security agencies have also begun background checks on several doctors from Jammu and Kashmir working in private hospitals in northern states. In Saharanpur, police officials said the local intelligence unit has been directed to verify the antecedents of all Kashmiri medical professionals employed in the district.

Dr Rather, who completed his MD in General Medicine from GMC Anantnag, had married a fellow doctor just weeks before his arrest. His association with extremist propaganda reportedly began months earlier, when he was still posted in Anantnag.

Officials in Jammu and Kashmir say the investigation is ongoing and that a larger network could be behind the plot. “At this stage, we cannot rule out that this was part of a broader conspiracy. The presence of such a large cache of explosives so close to the capital raises grave security concerns,” an official involved in the investigation said.

The joint operation, which began with the unmasking of a doctor-turned-extremist in Srinagar, has now evolved into a major counter-terror investigation spanning at least three states — Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana — and has exposed a dangerous nexus between professional respectability and clandestine radicalism.