In the November 2025 Red Fort blast case in Delhi, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed its first 7,500-page chargesheet before a special NIA court in Patiala House Courts in New Delhi.
The high-intensity vehicle-borne improved explosive device, or VBIED, exploded near the Red Fort in Delhi on 10th November in a planned Fidayeen attack by doctor-turned-Islamic terrorist Umar un-Nabi. The blast killed 11 people, leaving several others injured. The probe into this Jihadi attack was taken over by the NIA.
Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind-linked Jihadis, Operation Heavenly Hind, and the Sharia dream: What the NIA chargesheet in Delhi Red Fort blast case stated
Months after investigation, raids and arrests across Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Delhi, the NIA filed a chargesheet on 13th May. The chargesheet has been filed under relevant sections of the UA(P) Act 1967, Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, Explosive Substances Act 1908, Arms Act 1959, and Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act 1984.
In a statement, the probe agency said that the chargesheet is based on the detailed evidence comprising 588 oral testimonies, more than 395 documents and over 200 seized material exhibits.
The NIA chargesheet names 10 accused Islamic Jihadis, all linked to the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an offshoot of the Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS). The AQIS and all its manifestations, including the AGuH, were notified by the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs as a terrorist organisation in June 2018.
The probe agency proposed abating of charges against the deceased Pulwama-based Umer Un Nabi, the former professor at the Al Falah University in Haryana’s Faridabad, who carried out the suicide attack. Nabi’s remains were identified using DNA fingerprinting.
Before carrying out the Fidayeen attack, Umar Nabi had made a video justifying suicide bombing. Nabi regularly sent provocative Jihadist messages to youths to brainwash them. More than 70 videos, including 12 of Umar, were recovered from mobile phones seized from various individuals arrested in this case.
“Evidence collected from the scene of the crime, as well as various locations identified by the accused in and around the Al Falah University in Faridabad, as well as Jammu and Kashmir, were subjected to thorough forensic examination, voice analysis, etc., as part of the investigation,” the NIA stated in its chargesheet.
It must be recalled that the Al Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana, came under the scanner after several doctors working at the university were found connected to the terror module that caused the Red Fort blast. The ED investigation against the Al Falah group was initiated after the Delhi Police filed two FIRs against the Al Falah University, alleging that the university made misleading claims about its NAAC accreditation.
NIA’s chargesheet names Amir Rashid Mir, Jasir Bilal Wani, Dr Muzamil Shakeel, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, Dr Shaheen Saeed, Mufti Irfan Ahmad Wagay, Soyab, Dr Bilal Naseer Malla and Yasir Ahmad Dar as accused.
The accused Jihadis held a clandestine meeting in Srinagar in 2022 after initially failing to travel to Afghanistan via Turkey for Jihad. In this meeting in Srinagar, the accused Islamic terrorists reconstituted the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind as ‘AGuH Interim’.
It was reported earlier in the media that Red Fort bomber Umar un-Nabi and his terror associates, Dr Muzammil Shakeel Ganai and Dr Muzzafar Rather, met a Syrian handler in Turkiye in 2022 on the directions of their Afghanistan-Pakistan border-based handler named Ukasha.
“Under the umbrella of the newly constituted outfit, the accused had launched ‘Operation Heavenly Hind, ‘ aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian Government and imposing Sharia rule,” the NIA chargesheet reads.
Under the banner of AGuH Interim, the accused Jihadis launched what they called ‘Operation Heavenly Hind’. The sole objective of this ‘operation’ was to topple the democratically elected government and replace it with Islamic Sharia rule.
Jihadis Amir Rashid Mir, Jasir Bilal Wani, Dr Muzamil Shakeel, Dr Adeel Ahmed Rather, and others not only recruited new radicalised members but also stockpiled arms and ammunition, and manufactured explosives at a massive scale using commercially available chemicals.
According to the NIA chargesheet, the AGuH terrorists fabricated and tested various types of IEDs. They experimented with rocket-and-drone-mounted IEDs to target security establishments in Jammu and Kashmir and elsewhere.
For the Red Fort blast, the accused Jihadis used Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) explosive. This was manufactured by the accused persons secretly by procuring constituent ingredients and conducting multiple experiments.
The Jihadis chose TATP due to the convenience of procuring the precursor materials.
The probe agency also revealed that the accused Jihadis had illegally procured banned arms, including an AK-47 rifle, a Krinkov rifle, and country-made pistols with live ammunition.
According to the NIA, the accused Jihadis also purchased lab equipment, including MMO anode, electric circuits, and switches. The AGuH terrorists had plans to carry out sophisticated attacks across the country; however, the security agencies busted their terror module.
“They had experimented with rocket and drone-mounted IEDs with the objective of targeting security establishments in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and other parts of India. It was also revealed during the investigation that the accused procured laboratory equipment, including specialised items like MMO Anode, electric circuits, and switches from various offline and online sources. The accused also had plans to expand their operations in other parts of the country, which were foiled by the busting of the terror module,” the NIA said.
NIA court to take chargesheet into Red Fort Blast Case into consideration on 4th June
After the National Investigation Agency filed its chargesheet in the Red Fort Blast Case on Wednesday, a special NIA court fixed 4th June as the date for consideration of the chargesheet.
Earlier in April this year, the State Investigation Agency (SIA) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police filed its chargesheet against the 10 perpetrators involved in the Doctors Terror Module, linked to Al Falah University in Faridabad, which was behind the bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort.
The SIA chargesheet had named Arif Nisar Dar, Yasir Ul Ashraf Bhat, Maqsood Ahmad Dar, Irfan Ahmad Wagay also known as Owais, Zameer Ahmad Ahanger, alias Mutlashi, Muzamil Shakeel Ganaie also referred to as Musaib, Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather alias Javaid, Dr Shaheen Saeed, Tufail Ahmad Bhat and Dr Umar Un Nabi as the accused.
Red Fort Blast
While it was initially speculated that the car blast on 10th November was a panic attack since Umar Nabi’s fellow Jihadis got exposed and arrested by the investigation agencies, it has emerged that Umar was in contact with his handlers when he entered Delhi that day. Umar Nabi and his handler discussed the target area. They contemplated attacking Mayur Vihar, or Connaught Place, and eventually Nabi drove to Old Delhi.
The final target was chosen as the Red Fort, given the monument’s symbolic importance and expectation of a decent crowd. However, the jihadis did not factor in that it was a Monday and the Lal Qila remained closed to visitors. Ultimately, Umar Nabi and his handler on call decided to carry out a blast in the crowded Netaji Subhash Marg. The location holds significance, given it has the Red Fort on one side and the Chandni Chowk on the other.
During his three-hour stay at the parking lot near the Sunehri Masjid, Umar Nabi assembled the explosives and as soon as it was ready, he left for the target location and triggered the blast, killing 13 people and leaving two dozen injured.
