Sanjay Pandita
Early Times Report
Jammu, Dec 20: Security agencies tighten the noose in the Delhi Red Fort blast case as a joint team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and the State Investigation Agency (SIA) raided the rented room of cleric Irfan Ahmed Wagay, arrested for his alleged role in the deadly terror attack that shook the national capital.
Maulvi Irfan, who served as the imam of a mosque in Nowgam, had been residing in a room near the mosque premises. The dramatic raid was carried out as part of an expanding crackdown aimed at exposing the entire terror ecosystem linked to the November 10 blast near the historic Red Fort.
Heavily armed teams of the NIA and SIA, backed by CRPF personnel and local police, descended on Naik Bagh and conducted an intensive search of the cleric’s room. Investigators are probing Irfan’s suspected role in providing logistical support, maintaining communication channels, and fostering ideological links with the perpetrators of the gruesome attack.
According to sources, the NIA has sharply escalated searches and interrogations across multiple locations as it works to unravel the full conspiracy behind the bombing, including the possible involvement of additional operatives based in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a major revelation, Jaish-e-Mohammed posters were allegedly recovered from the cleric’s room, further deepening suspicion around his activities. Maulvi Irfan, a resident of Nadigam in Shopian district, is already an accused in an earlier Jaish-e-Mohammed poster case, in which similar material was recovered from his residence. He is also accused of radicalising local youth, sources said.
As reported earlier, the NIA has arrested another key conspirator in the case on Thursday, taking the total number of a State Investigation Agency (SIA) raided the rented room of cleric Irfan Ahmed Wagay, arrested for his role in the deadly terror attack that shook Delhi.
Maulvi Irfan served as the imam of a mosque in Nowgam, had been residing in a room near the mosque premises.
Investigators are probing Irfan’s suspected role in providing logistical support, maintaining communication channels and fostering ideological links with the perpetrators of the gruesome attack.
The NIA has sharply escalated searches and interrogations across multiple locations as it works to unravel the full conspiracy behind the bombing.
According to an official spokesperson, the ninth accused has been identified as Yasir Ahmad Dar, a resident of Shopian in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. He was apprehended from New Delhi and formally arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, in case RC-21/2025/NIA/DLI.
Investigators say Yasir played an active role in the conspiracy behind the car bomb blast that rocked the capital. A key participant in the plot, he had allegedly sworn allegiance and taken an oath to carry out self-sacrificial operations.
Further investigation has revealed that Yasir remained in close contact with other accused, including Umar Un Nabi, the deceased executor of the bombing, and Mufti Irfan Ahmad, strengthening the case of a well-coordinated terror network.
Working in close coordination with central and state agencies, the NIA continues its aggressive offensive to dismantle the terror infrastructure behind the attack. Earlier this month, the agency carried out sweeping raids at the premises of several accused and suspects in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh, seizing digital devices and other incriminating material.
These operations followed earlier searches at the residences of prime accused Dr. Muzammil Shakeel Ganie and Dr. Shaheen Saeed at the Al-Falah University complex and other locations in Faridabad, Haryana.
With arrests mounting and raids intensifying, the Red Fort blast investigation has entered a decisive phase, as agencies race against time to neutralise every link in the terror chain. |
