Al Falah University, located in Haryana's Faridabad district, has been under scrutiny since the arrest of doctors in connection with the November 10 high-intensity blast near the Red Fort in Delhi, which killed 13 and injured several others.
While the prime accused Dr Umar un Nabi, who allegedly drove the Hyundai i20 car packed with explosives, was an associate professor of medicine at the Al Falah School of Medical Sciences, his accomplices Dr Muzammil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Shahid were faculty and former faculty members at the varsity respectively.
The chairperson of the Al Falah group, Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, too is under the spotlight, after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on money laundering charges. He is accused of amassing over Rs 415 crore from students studying in the institutions run by him, through financial fraud and false claims of accreditation (NAAC/UGC), and the alleged diversion of university funds.
PTI quoted sources as saying that more than 200 doctors and staff at Al Falah University are under the scanner of investigative agencies such as the National Investigation Agency (NIA), units from the Delhi Police Special Cell, Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS), Faridabad Crime Branch and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, who have been regularly visiting the university.
Who is Mirza Shadab Baig?
And now, it has emerged that Mirza Shadab Baig, a key member of the Indian Mujahideen and an accused in the Gorakhpur, Ahmedabad and Jaipur serial bomb blasts, was also a student of Al Falah University.
While the three low-intensity serial blasts in Gorakhpur in 2007 injured six people, the nine serial blasts in Jaipur in 2008 killed around 70 and injured more than 200. The same year, another series of blasts in Ahmedabad killed around 50 people and left more than 200 injured. The IM was linked to all the three terror attacks.
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A resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, Baig hails from Bairdih Lalganj village and earlier lived with his family in the Raja Ka Qila locality of Azamgarh. Absconding for almost 18 years now, Baig reportedly completed his B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation at the university in 2007. After his involvement in the Gorakhpur blasts came to light, his property was attached by the police.
According to a Bhaskar English report, Baig went to Udupi, Karnataka, to collect explosives to carry out the blasts. He was in charge of the logistics, and would assist in making bombs and provide training, the report said. A reward of Rs 1 lakh was announced for his whereabouts and information about him.
Baig was, reportedly, last seen in Afghanistan in 2019.
Interestingly, the doctors involved in the Delhi Red Fort blasts reportedly received instructions from handlers based in Afghanistan-Pakistan region. Also, Dr Muzaffar Ahmad Rather, one of the key conspirators, fled India in August this year and, according to police, is believed to be currently operating from Afghanistan. |
