Srinagar: Youths with no past criminal record or separatist affiliation are now preferred for recruitment by terror handlers in Jammu and Kashmir to stay under the radar of security forces, officials in the know say.
This fresh strategy is completely different from the modus operandi adopted by them two decades ago, according to officials, which favoured those with established links to terror outfits.
The investigators probing the “white collar terror module” have found a distinct pattern and a common denominator among the accused persons who have been arrested or questioned so far.
“The accused persons like Dr Adeel Rather, his brother Dr Muzaffar Rather, and Dr Muzammil Ganaie do not have any past criminal record or involvement in anti-national activities,” an official said.
The official said even the family members of these “radicalized” youths have no past affiliation with any separatist or terror outfit.
“Even Dr Umar Nabi, who was driving the car that blew up outside the Red Fort metro station in Delhi on November 10, did not have any past record. His family also has been clean in this aspect,” the official said.
According to sources, “this seems to be a deliberate ploy of the terror handlers operating in Jammu and Kashmir or from across the border in Pakistan” to lure highly qualified youth and those with no past criminal record.
“It would be unthinkable for anyone to believe that a group of doctors would indulge in terror activities… So, that gave these accused persons a cover right from the start,” the official said.
The module was busted after posters threatening police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, in mid-October, prompting an investigation.
Srinagar police registered a case on October 19 and formed a dedicated team.
A meticulous, frame-by-frame analysis of CCTV footage led investigators to identify and arrest the first three suspects — Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid. These three had cases of stone-pelting registered against them and were seen pasting the posters.
Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-Imam (preacher) from Shopian who supplied the posters and is believed to have radicalised the doctors using his easy access to the medical community.
The trail ultimately led Srinagar police to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where they arrested Dr Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed. It was here that the massive cache of chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulphur, was seized.
Investigators believe the entire module was run by a core trio of doctors — Ganaie, Dr Umar Nabi (the driver of the explosives-laden car that exploded in Delhi), and Muzzaffar Rather (absconding).
The role of the eighth arrested person, Dr Adeel Rather, the brother of absconding Dr Muzzaffar Rather — from whom an AK-56 rifle was seized — is still under investigation.
These suspects’ profiles, however, are in contrast with the archetype of recruits from 20 years ago.
“From the early 2000s till 2020, the focus of the handlers was on youths who already had an association with terrorism. A significant number of terrorists killed in this 20-year period had given up arms at some point only to be recycled into the ranks,” the official said.
A significant number of youth were radicalised during their detention in various jails, according to the official.
“However, the terror handlers seem to be wary of recycling these types of persons into their ranks due to increased surveillance on them in the post-2019 era,” the official added.
‘White collar terror module’ was scouting for suicide bomber since last year: Officials
The sophisticated “white-collar terror module”, spearheaded by a group of doctors recently busted by Jammu and Kashmir Police, had been actively scouting for a suicide bomber since last year, with key planner Dr Umar Nabi pushing the agenda, officials said on Sunday.
Interrogation of an arrested co-accused was indicative that Umar, believed to have been killed while driving the explosives-laden car that blew up near the Red Fort on November 10, was a “hardcore radical” and insisted that a suicide bomber was essential for their operations.
Immediately, Srinagar police sent a team to Qazigund in south Kashmir and detained Jasir alias ‘Danish’, a bachelor in political sciences, on the basis of questioning of the co-accused, including Dr Adeel Rather and Dr Muzzaffar Ganaie.
Srinagar police led by its SSP, Dr G V Sundeep Chakravarthy, cracked the entire “white collar terror module”.
The detained person agreed to have met the ‘Doctor module’ in October last year at a mosque in Kulgam from where he was taken to a rented accommodation at the Al Falah University in Faridabad, Haryana.
The detained person said that while others in the module wanted him to be a over-ground worker (OGW) for the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed, he was “intensely brainwashed by Umar for several months to become a suicide bomber”.
The plan, however, collapsed in April this year after the man backed out, citing his poor economic condition and the belief that suicide was forbidden in Islam.
The suicide bomber scouting plot adds a dangerous new dimension to the investigation into the interstate terror network linked to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).
As reported by PTI earlier, Umar, a 28-year-old doctor from Pulwama, emerged as the most radicalised and key operative in the network spanning Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, and officials believe he was planning a powerful vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (VBIED) blast timed around the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on December 6.
However, “his plans were to place a VBIED around a crowded place, either in the national capital or at some place of religious importance, and disappear,” the officials said, piecing together the evidence.
According to the interrogation of the co-accused, Umar’s transformation began after a trip to Turkiye in 2021 with co-accused Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie, where they allegedly met JeM OGWs.
Following the trip, Umar and Ganaie, who taught at the Al Falah University, began accumulating vast quantities of chemicals from the open market, including 360 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulphur, much of which was stored near the university campus.
The December plot fell apart when Srinagar police’s investigation led to Ganaie’s arrest and the seizure of the explosives, triggering a possible panic in Umar which finally ended with a premature blast outside the Red Fort that left 13 people dead.
The intricate interstate terror network was exposed after a small but significant incident of JeM posters appearing on the walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, on the outskirts of Srinagar on October 19.
Srinagar police registered a case and reviewed CCTV camera footage, leading to the arrest of three locals — Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, all with prior stone-pelting cases against their names.
Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-Imam from Shopian, who allegedly supplied the posters and used his access to “radicalise the doctors”.
