A day after a car blast killed nine people in Delhi, top police sources in Jammu and Kashmir have told The Indian Express that the explosion appears to have been carried out by the same “transnational and interstate” module that was busted by the police in Faridabad a day earlier.
In the days leading up to the blast, J&K Police had arrested two doctors from Haryana’s Faridabad and Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur for alleged links to the terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH).
Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai from Pulwama was arrested first, leading to the arrest of Dr Adeel Majeed Rather from Qazigund. Ganai was employed at Al Falah Hospital in Faridabad, and police had said they seized 358 kg of explosives suspected to be ammonium nitrate from Ganai’s rented home in Faridabad’s Dhauj village.
Police sources told The Indian Express they believe that Umar Nabi, a third doctor who went missing after Ganai’s arrest, is the likely bomber and the person captured on CCTV footage in the Hyundai i20.
A resident of Koil village of Pulwama, Umar Nabi was also employed at the Al Falah University’s School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre. After Dr Muzamil’s arrest, police are learnt to have launched a manhunt for him. Both men belong to the same village.
Sources also told The Indian Express that police in J&K have detained at least five people from different villages of Pulwama for questioning since Monday night. They include Amir Rashid, a resident of Samboora village of Pulwama, who is allegedly the car’s current owner. His brother has also been picked up by the police for questioning, sources said, as have three other men from the area.
The “Jaish module”, police sources indicate, had at least four doctors – Ganai, Rather, Umar and a woman from Lucknow, who has also been picked up for questioning in connection with the case.
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The alleged module was busted during a police investigation into the appearance of Jaish posters on the outskirts of Srinagar city.
