A 7,500-page chargesheet has been filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) against 10 accused in connection with the deadly car bomb explosion near the Red Fort in Delhi that killed 11 people and injured several others.
The high-intensity Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) blast happened on November 10 last year.
As per the NIA, the 10 accused, including the alleged mastermind Dr Umer Un Nabi, who was killed in the blast, were associated with Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH). The terror outfit is considered an offshoot of Al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).
The Union Ministry of Home Affairs had in June 2018 declared AQIS and its affiliated organisations as terrorist entities.
The central agency has filed the chargesheet 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.
Notably, the charges against Pulwama-based Dr Umer Un Nabi (deceased), who was an ex-Assistant Professor of Medicine at Al-Falah University in Faridabad (Haryana), have been proposed to be abated.
Apart from Nabi, others named in the chargesheet include Aamir 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, IANS reported.
The chargesheet was filed after the NIA conducted extensive investigation in the matter across multiple regions like Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and the Delhi-NCR. It includes statements of 588 witnesses, more than 395 documentary records as well as over 200 seized exhibits and material objects.
The accused individuals were allegedly motivated by extremist ideology propagated by AQIS and AGuH.
It was revealed that in 2022, the accused allegedly regrouped during a secret meeting in Srinagar after a failed attempt to migrate to Afghanistan through Turkey. At that time, they were believed to have revived the AGuH network under the new banner of “AGuH Interim”.
According to investigators, they launched a conspiracy code-named “Operation Heavenly Hind” that aimed to overthrow the democratically elected government in India and establishing Sharia-based rule.