NIA nabs another suspect from Srinagar in Red Fort blast case

A day after arresting Amir Rashid Ali, who had allegedly conspired with Umer-un-Nabi, the doctor who allegedly drove a car that exploded outside the Red Fort Metro Station on November 10, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday made its second arrest in the Delhi blast case.

Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, was arrested from Srinagar in Jammu & Kashmir in connection with the investigation.

According to NIA, Jasir had allegedly provided technical support for carrying out terror attacks by modifying drones and attempting to make rockets ahead of the deadly car bomb blast, which killed 10 persons and left 32 persons injured on November 10.

The accused, a resident of Qazigund in Anantnag district of J&K was an active co-conspirator behind the attack and had worked closely with Nabi to plan the terror carnage, the NIA sources said. After being produced before a Delhi court on Monday, Amir was sent to a 10-day NIA custody.

The NIA told the court that Amir allegedly provided Nabi logistical support and will be taken to J&K for further investigation.

As reported by The Tribune on November 17, Amir was earlier taken into custody by the J&K police from his home in Pampore, a few hours after the blast on the night of November 10. The NIA on Monday had arrested him, thus marking its first arrest in the blast case.

The NIA had taken over the case from the Delhi Police on November 11.

In its remand papers submitted to Principal and District Sessions Judge Anju Bajaj Chandna of the Patiala House Court, the NIA said Amir, in whose name the car was registered, provided logistical support to Nabi and also arranged a safe house for him. The agency said Amir’s remand was also needed to unearth the entire conspiracy behind the blast.

The “intensity and precision” of the blast was meant to “cause alarm and panic in the public” and “instil fear in their minds”, it said. It was also claimed that the act aimed to threaten and destabilise the sovereignty and unity of the nation.

Several teams of the anti-terror agency were pursuing multiple fresh leads and were conducting searches across several states to identify every person involved in the terror attack, sources said.