Three Kashmiris Among Ten Missing at Al Falah University as Red Fort Blast Probe Widens

SRINAGAR: The investigation into the November 10 car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort has deepened dramatically, with at least ten people linked to Al Falah University in Faridabad now missing and more than 200 doctors and staff placed under formal scrutiny, according to reports appearing in the media.

The missing individuals, including three Kashmiris, were flagged after a joint operation by Jammu and Kashmir Police and Haryana Police, which found their mobile phones switched off and their whereabouts unknown. Intelligence inputs cited in media reports suggested that they may be connected to the terror module responsible for packing a Hyundai i20 with ammonium nitrate fuel oil before detonating it outside the Mughal-era fort.

The expanding investigation has triggered intense activity at Al Falah University, which has emerged as a central node in the case. Media reports said security agencies have been carrying out frequent checks on the campus, prompting several employees to leave the university on Wednesday with packed belongings. According to university sources quoted in the reports, these employees said they were taking leave and returning home amid growing apprehension.

Investigators are examining the list of individuals who left the campus after the blast and suspect that some may have been directly linked to those involved in the attack. Sources told the media that an unusual number of people have recently deleted their mobile data, a move now under scrutiny as agencies try to reconstruct communication trails. Police searches have been extended to hostels, campus buildings, and rented accommodation outside the university. More than 1,000 people have been questioned so far, according to the reports.

One of the first major leads came from Nuh, where agencies detained a 35-year-old Anganwadi worker who had rented a room in Hidayat Colony to suicide bomber Dr Umar Un Nabi. The woman had been absconding since the explosion. Media reports said her family members are also being questioned, alongside seven other residents of Nuh who may have interacted with Umar. Investigators believe Umar used several mobile phones during his months-long stay in the locality, suggesting a deliberate attempt to evade tracking.

As the probe intensified, disturbing details about Umar’s time at Al Falah University have surfaced. Doctors quoted in the media said he had been absent without leave for nearly six months in 2023 yet resumed duty without facing any disciplinary action. They also alleged that Umar rarely took classes, taught only briefly when he did, and consistently secured evening or night shifts at the hospital, never morning duties. These irregularities have led agencies to examine whether he had a handler or collaborator within the institution, a possibility now forming a key line of inquiry.

The reputational fallout for the university has been immediate. Reports said patient footfall at the Al Falah Medical College hospital has dropped sharply, falling from nearly 200 a day to fewer than 100 since the institution’s links to the suspects first emerged.

Simultaneously, multiple security and investigative agencies have established a strong presence on the campus. Teams from the National Investigation Agency, the Delhi Police Special Cell, the Uttar Pradesh ATS, the Faridabad Crime Branch and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been conducting parallel inquiries. On Tuesday, the Enforcement Directorate joined the operation, setting up a temporary command centre inside the university premises after launching financial investigations linked to the case.

The ED’s involvement escalated later that night when it arrested Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, chairman of the Al Falah Group. According to agency officials quoted in media reports, Siddiqui was taken into custody under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act after a series of coordinated searches at 19 locations across Delhi-NCR beginning at around 5:15 am. During the raids, the agency seized Rs 48 lakh in cash and searched an office of the Al Falah Trust in Okhla under a heavy police and paramilitary cordon.

The ED told a Delhi court that Siddiqui had generated more than Rs 415 crore in “proceeds of crime” by dishonestly inducing students and parents to pay fees based on false claims of accreditation and recognition. The agency also argued that Siddiqui had “incentives” to flee India, noting that his close family members are settled in Gulf countries. After a late-night hearing that lasted until 1 am at the residence of Additional Sessions Judge Sheetal Chaudhary Pradhan, Siddiqui was remanded to 13 days of ED custody. The judge observed that all legal requirements under Section 19 of the PMLA had been complied with and that given the gravity of the allegations and the early stage of the investigation, extended custodial interrogation was justified.

While financial investigators pursue the money trail, security agencies continue their search for the ten missing individuals linked to Al Falah University. Senior officials quoted in media reports have cautioned that it is too early to establish definitive links, but the combination of disappearances, deleted phone data and irregularities within the university’s functioning has placed the institution at the centre of a widening inquiry.

As the probe continues, the Red Fort blast, which killed 15 people and injured several others, is increasingly being viewed not as an isolated act of violence but as part of a larger network involving radicalisation, institutional complicity and financial misconduct. Investigators say further arrests and disclosures are likely in the coming days as the full dimensions of the case come into view.