NIA Makes Another Arrest Linked to Red Fort Car Blast Case
Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency on Monday, November 17, arrested a second associate of Dr Umar Nabi, the alleged suicide bomber involved in the Red Fort blast in which at least 13 persons were killed exactly a week ago.
In a statement, the agency said that it has arrested Jasir Bilal Wani, also known as Danish, a “key associate” and “active co-conspirator” of Nabi in the summer capital Srinagar in connection with the ongoing anti-terror probe.
“The accused, a resident of Qazigund in Anantnag district of J&K, was an active co-conspirator behind the attack (in Delhi) and had worked closely with the terrorist, Umar un Nabi, to plan the terror carnage,” the agency said.
Jasir was detained by the anti-terror agency last week along with his uncle Nabeel Ahmad Wani in connection with the investigation into the Delhi blast probe.
Over the weekend, Jasir’s father Bilal Ahmad Wani set himself on fire as he was reportedly “unable to bear the humiliation” of his son and brother being under the NIA scanner.
Wani, a dry-fruit trader, passed away at a hospital in Srinagar on Sunday night while Ahmad, a government teacher, is still detained.
The family have denied charges of their involvement in the Delhi blast.
However, the anti-terror agency said that Jasir had “allegedly provided technical support” to Nabi “for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets” in the run up to the deadly bomb blast on November 10 in which more than two dozen civilians were injured.
The Wani family hails from the native village of Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather, one of the two doctors who have been arrested by Jammu and Kashmir Police in connection with the Faridabad ‘terror module’ case.
While Dr Rather was nabbed from a private hospital in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, Dr Muzzamil Shakeel Ganai, a resident of Koil village in Pulwama district, who was working at Al Falah University in Faridabad, was the first doctor to be arrested in the case.
Nabi, also a resident of Koil village, has been officially named as the "suicide bomber" involved in the Red Fort blast which ripped through the crowded old Delhi area last week.
Jasir is the second “associate” of Nabi who has been arrested in the case.
On Sunday, the agency said that it arrested Amir Rashid Ali, a resident of Samboora village in Pulwama district whose documents were used by Nabi to purchase the Hyundai car that was involved in the blast.
In a statement, the NIA said that the car was “eventually used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast” on November 10.
“NIA has forensically established the identity of the deceased driver of the Vehicle Borne IED as Umar Un Nabi, a resident of Pulwama District and Assistant Professor in General Medicine Department in Al Falah University at Faridabad,” the agency said.
The Wire had first reported about Rashid who, according to the official probe, is believed to have met Nabi at a hospital in Srinagar, where one of the former’s relatives was undergoing treatment some years ago.
The two are believed to have exchanged numbers and stayed in touch, an official privy to the investigation told The Wire, without specifying more detail.
“NIA continues to explore various angles to unravel the conspiracy behind the bombing. Several teams of the anti-terror agency are pursuing multiple leads, and are conducting searches across states to identify every person involved in the terror attack,” the agency's statement on Monday added.
This story was originally published at 8:15pm on November 17, 2025 and has been updated with more detail.
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