Blast accused Ganai admits failed attempt to ship explosives to J&K

Delhi blast accused Muzammil Ganai has reportedly told investigators that a massive consignment of explosives — meant for use against security forces in Jammu & Kashmir — could not be delivered after three of his associates were arrested. According to sources, this revelation was made when Ganai was taken by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to Al Falah University in Faridabad on November 24 to recreate the sequence of events.

Sources said Ganai informed the agency that J&K Police arrested three of his accomplices before the explosives could be transported to the Union Territory, which subsequently led to his own arrest and resulted in the failure of the entire plan.

Investigators have also learnt that a large quantity of ammonium nitrate was procured in 2023 from two shops in Sohna, Gurugram. The NIA team took Ganai to Sohna, where he identified the shops. Both shop owners were questioned, sources confirmed.

Further probe revealed that in the rented room in Dhauj, where 360 kg of explosives and weapons were recovered earlier, Ganai and his associate Umer-un-Nabi — who allegedly drove the i20 car laden with explosives in which the blast was triggered — had set up a makeshift laboratory. There, they prepared deadly explosives using various chemicals. Reliable sources also claimed that the duo was attempting to produce Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP), a highly unstable and powerful explosive.

Police sources disclosed that Umer kept a book named Harrison (Principles of Internal Medicine) with him and learned Chinese in just six months. The group communicated only within a restricted circle to avoid detection, they said.

Ganai reportedly told investigators that being a doctor helped him evade suspicion. “Since he was a doctor, his car was not checked and no one suspected anything,” a source said. Investigators believe he used this advantage to procure explosives undetected. The materials remained in his vehicle before being transported after dark to Fatehpur Taga, where 2,563 kg of explosives were eventually recovered from a rented accommodation.

According to sources, Ganai used the car of his associate Dr Shaheen to move the explosives in small bags. After unloading them, he would get the vehicle washed at a service station in Dhauj to avoid raising suspicion.

The NIA took the accused to four locations as part of the reconstruction exercise — Al Falah University, Sohna, and the rented rooms in Dhauj and Fatehpur Taga — accompanied by a 40-member NIA team. Two teams from the Faridabad crime branch also assisted.