The mastermind behind the terror module in Haryana’s Faridabad which the police and security agencies have smashed has been identified as Imam Irfan Ahmad. He is a resident of Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian.
Ahmad is among seven suspects arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police following the recovery of weapons and bomb-making chemicals in Faridabad, and the blast near the Red Fort in Delhi on Monday that killed nine.
Ahmad is instrumental in radicalizing medical students, sources said, adding he worked on them patiently and pushed them toward an extremist ideology.
He was earlier a paramedical staff member at Government Medical College in Srinagar. He kept in touch with several students whom he met at a mosque in Nowgam, sources said.
Ahmad gradually influenced medical students in Faridabad with radical thoughts, they said, adding the Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed inspired him. He even showed videos of JeM to his students regularly.
He was in touch with some people in Afghanistan through VoIP or calls made using data connection. His objective was to deeply embed extremist thinking into the minds of the students, sources said.
The two doctors, Muzammil Shakeel and Mohammad Umar, were actively advancing this mission. The entire module is believed to have been conceptualised by Ahmad, sources said.
Authorities believe the network aimed to conduct multi-city, simultaneous terror strikes using the explosives stockpiled in Faridabad. The sophistication of the plan, coupled with the professional backgrounds of its members, indicates a shift from conventional militancy to a more covert and intellectualised form of extremism.
Sources said the Delhi blast was carried out by Mohammad Umar in a state of panic after the Faridabad module was exposed. Umar had direct links with Maulvi Irfan Ahmad.
Dr Shaheen Sayeed, a resident of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, has surfaced as the financier and supporter of this module. She taught at Al-Falah University and is said to be the India commander of Jaish-e-Mohammed’s women’s wing, Jamaat-ul-Mominaat.
During the raid in Nowgam, authorities also detained Wagay’s wife, who is suspected of helping recruit women into the group, and seized mobile phones containing extremist instructions and messages. Investigators are questioning a female family member and probing Wagay’s brother, who reportedly serves in the J&K Police, to determine whether he was aware of or assisted in the operation.
With Irfan Ahmad Wagah’s arrest, authorities say a major terror plot has been foiled, preventing what could have been one of the deadliest attacks on Indian soil in recent years.
Police sources said that several other suspects have been identified, and their roles are being scrutinised. Investigators are now examining the financial flows that sustained the network and questioning the friends and family members of the accused to map out its full reach. Officials described the module as a disturbing trend in militancy one that relies on educated professionals, particularly from medical backgrounds, to lend legitimacy, skill, and operational depth to terror outfits. The investigation continues, with agencies coordinating across Delhi, Haryana, and Jammu & Kashmir to uncover how this “white-collar” network expanded under the guise of faith and medicine.
