Key Points
NIA links five doctors to Red Fort blast and Faridabad explosives seizure.
Investigators probe radicalisation among professionals in India.
Al-Falah University becomes central to multi-state terror investigation.
Raises national concern over ethical breach within medical academia.
When Delhi’s Red Fort trembled on November 10 after a white Hyundai i20 exploded near its metro gate, it was not only the monument that shook—it was also India’s trust in a profession once considered above suspicion. As investigators followed the chemical residue, broken car frame, and data trails, the story that emerged was chilling: an alleged terror network run not by conventional militants, but by doctors, who are highly educated, seemingly ordinary professionals, who stood accused of turning their intellect to destruction.
This is the story of the “white-collar” terror module that has shocked the nation.
Born in Pulwama, Jammu & Kashmir, in 1989, Dr. Mohammad Umar was known as a quiet and capable physician. He attained MBBS and reportedly an MD in Medicine. A graduate of Government Medical College Anantnag, he later joined Al-Falah University in Faridabad as a faculty doctor.
On November 10, witnesses saw a white Hyundai i20 parked near the Red Fort Metro station for hours. Minutes before 6:45 p.m., it erupted into flames, killing at least ten and injuring dozens. Investigators say Umar was the driver. His remains are yet to be conclusively identified; DNA samples from his family in Pulwama are being compared with biological evidence from the scene.
Umar’s name had already appeared in earlier security interrogations tied to the Faridabad explosives case. Whether he intentionally triggered the device or the blast was accidental remains under forensic review, but authorities agree he is central to the unfolding network that connects Delhi, Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir.
Just outside Delhi, in Faridabad’s Dhauj village, Haryana police and central agencies unearthed one of India’s largest peacetime explosive seizures—nearly ~2,900 kg of ammonium-nitrate based material, along with rifles, pistols, ammunition, detonators, and timers.
The flat belonged to Dr. Muzammil Shakil, an MBBS graduate from Jammu & Kashmir (Pulwama region), reportedly around 35 years old, who had been teaching at Al-Falah University. He had rented the property months earlier under a false pretext.
Locals described him as “educated and polite.” But investigators allege he was storing ammonium nitrate mixed with metal powders, ingredients identical to those used in improvised explosive devices. Muzammil’s arrest followed interrogation of another doctor from Kashmir, leading to the Faridabad raids.
Forensic experts are still determining the final mixture’s potency. Yet even preliminary findings show planning, discipline, and resources, traits that disturbingly align with his professional training.
Hailing from Qazigund in Anantnag, Dr. Adeel Ahmad Rather was a young, high-earning doctor, making around Rs 4 lakh per month, before his arrest (Deccan Herald). Educated in Kashmir and later employed at a private hospital in Saharanpur, UP, Rather appeared to live a comfortable life.
But when he was detained by J&K Police in late October, his interrogation reportedly provided the first breakthrough in the case, revealing links to the Faridabad explosives and the Al-Falah group of doctors.
Investigators describe him as a recruiter and connector within the module, using professional networks to connect other doctors and engineers to radical handlers. His medical background gave him social credibility, while his ideological links, officials say, made him an effective intermediary between operatives and new recruits.
He remains in custody under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Authorities are investigating whether he handled funds or logistics for the Red Fort operation. His story underscores a broader phenomenon: radicalisation not at the margins of society, but within its educated middle class.
A soft-spoken physician from Lucknow, Dr Shaheen Shahid taught at Al-Falah University, living what looked like a normal academic life. That façade shattered when police searching her white Swift Dzire reportedly found an assault rifle hidden inside.
According to India Today and the Economic Times, Dr Shaheen was allegedly tasked with creating a “white-collar women’s wing” of Jaish-e-Mohammed in India, focusing on recruiting educated women into radical cells. Investigators suspect she used professional networks to build trust and cover.
Her family maintains she is innocent and unaware of any plot. But officials claim her digital footprint connects her to the same module as Muzammil and Umar. Her arrest marked one of the first times a woman doctor was named as part of a domestic terror conspiracy in India.
Authorities are still determining whether she participated in planning the Red Fort incident or focused on recruitment and propaganda. The NIA has included her in its multi-state investigation into professional radicalisation.
Far from Delhi, another doctor’s arrest has deepened the national security puzzle. Dr. Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed, a 35-year-old physician from Hyderabad, was taken into custody by the Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in early November 2025 for alleged links to the Islamic State – Khorasan Province (ISKP).
Saiyed, who earned his MBBS degree in China, had been running a shawarma outlet in Hyderabad while occasionally practicing medicine. Investigators say he procured two Glock pistols, a Beretta, hundreds of live cartridges, and castor seeds used to manufacture ricin - a highly toxic biological agent.
The ATS believes he conducted reconnaissance of potential targets in Delhi, Lucknow and Ahmedabad, including RSS offices. Although no direct connection to the Red Fort module has been established, officials say his cell shared ideological ties with the larger network of radicalised professionals.
Saiyed is currently in judicial custody under UAPA and the Arms Act. His arrest expands the terror investigation into new territory, combining chemical, biological and ideological dimensions of terrorism.
Al-Falah University is a private university located in Village Dhauj, Faridabad district, Haryana. It was established under the Haryana Private Universities (Amendment) Act, 2014 (Act 21 of 2014) and officially notified on May 2, 2014. The university is recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC) under Sections 2(f) and 12(B) of the UGC Act, 1956.
Run by the Al-Falah Charitable Trust, the institution began as an engineering college in 1997 before expanding into a full-fledged university. It now spans over 70 acres and includes the Al-Falah Hospital, a multi-specialty facility attached to its medical and nursing schools (Indian Express, Times of India, official website).
The medical college started in 2019 with its first MBBS batch. Following the Red Fort blast and the arrests of doctors linked to the university, law enforcement agencies have questioned staff and reviewed institutional records. In the aftermath, the university’s website was reportedly hacked by a group calling itself “Indian Cyber Alliance,” which posted a message condemning alleged radical activities.
The five doctors: Umar, Muzammil, Adeel, Shaheen and Saiyed, illustrate a disturbing trend: educated, socially integrated individuals turning toward violent extremism. Investigators describe them as the face of a new-age terror structure: educated recruits who leverage their credentials and mobility to operate undetected.
Al-Falah University has emerged as a key nexus in the probe, with several faculty and staff members detained by the NIA for questioning (NDTV). Forensics have linked chemical samples from the Red Fort blast to materials found at Muzammil’s flat.
Psychological analysts say these cases reflect an ideological pull rather than economic distress. Digital indoctrination and professional peer recruitment appear to have played a key role. The NIA is also tracking foreign handlers and encrypted online channels that connected these suspects.
The Delhi Red Fort blast and the doctors linked to it have become a grim reminder that terror can wear a lab coat. For India’s medical community, this is a wake-up call to reclaim ethics, vigilance and social responsibility in spaces where knowledge is both a tool and a weapon.
The NIA’s investigation continues, but for a country that reveres its doctors as healers, these revelations have left a deep scar, one that demands accountability, reform and a renewed commitment to the principle of “do no harm.”
