Red Fort blast: Doctor at the wheel, accused of steering ‘white-collar’ terror cell

Just three days before a car exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort, Dr. Umar Nabi Bhat, a promising young physician from Pulwama, phoned his sister-in-law to say he would be home soon. On the night his family waited for him, the police arrived instead.

Investigators now believe Umar, who once ranked among Kashmir’s top medical students, was behind the wheel of the i20 that went up in flames near the Red Fort on November 10 — and may have been the ideological pivot of a “white-collar” terror module allegedly run by radicalized doctors and professionals.

“He is suspected to have been steering and motivating the rest of the flock,” said a senior officer, describing Umar as the group’s driving force in both spirit and execution.

From classrooms to custody

Umar’s quiet academic journey took him from the Government Medical College (GMC) in Srinagar — where he completed his MBBS and MD — to a faculty post at Al Falah University in Faridabad. Police say it was from within this campus that the so-called “white-collar” group emerged, a cell of educated professionals allegedly drawn into a terror network.

On November 7, Umar made his final known call. “He said he was busy with exams and would come home in three days,” recalled his sister-in-law, Muzamila Akhtar. “We didn’t know anything until the media showed up this morning.”

By Monday night, Pulwama police had picked up Umar’s father, Ghulam Nabi Bhat, for questioning, while his brothers Zahoor Illahi and Ashiq Hussain were taken away hours apart. His mother, family members said, was reportedly taken for DNA sampling.

Ripple arrests and shattered families

A kilometre away, another family was reeling from disbelief. Muzammil Ganai, also a doctor from Al Falah University, was among those arrested earlier in connection with the Faridabad module. “I can’t believe it,” said his sister Asmat Shakeel, whose wedding, planned for November 10, was postponed after his arrest.

Muzammil, son of a Pulwama farmer, completed his MBBS in Jammu in 2017 and worked at SKIMS, Srinagar, before joining Al Falah. His alleged confession, police said, led them to a cache of explosives in Faridabad — and to another doctor, Dr. Adeel Majeed Rather of Kulgam, who had recently joined a hospital in Saharanpur after completing his MD in General Medicine.

Police say all three men — Umar, Muzammil, and Adeel — represent a troubling new face of radicalisation: educated, professional, and outwardly unremarkable. “It’s a pattern of ideology masked by intellect,” said an investigator.

The paradox of promise and peril

For families in Pulwama, the allegations have left a trail of disbelief and grief. “He was engaged to a doctor in Srinagar. He had everything ahead of him,” said a neighbour of Umar’s.

As investigators piece together links between the Faridabad module and the Red Fort blast, what remains stark is the descent of young, accomplished men — doctors sworn to save lives — into the shadowed world of extremism.