NEW DELHI, Nov 18: Jammu and Kashmir Police have recovered the mobile phone of Red Fort suicide bomber Dr Umar-un-Nabi, revealing a video he recorded glorifying the November 10 attack as a “martyrdom operation,” officials said on Tuesday. The blast, carried out using an explosive-laden car driven by Umar’s brother Zahoor Illahi, killed 15 people.
The breakthrough came after the detention and interrogation of Illahi by a special team led by Srinagar SSP G V Sundeep Chakravarthy. Initially denying involvement, Illahi later admitted that Umar — who was in Kashmir from October 26 to 29 — had handed him the phone with instructions to “dump it in water” if anything happened to him. He then guided police to the location where he had discarded the device.
Despite water damage, forensic experts retrieved crucial data showing Umar had been heavily radicalised, consuming violent extremist material linked to ISIS and Al-Qaeda. He had also recorded several videos speaking about the planned suicide attack, one of which circulated on social media.
The recovered phone has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) for further forensic analysis. Officials said the NIA is expected to take Zahoor Illahi into custody soon.
Umar, a 28-year-old doctor from Pulwama, is believed to be the central operative in a wider inter-state terror module spanning Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Investigators allege he was preparing a major VBIED (Vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device) attack, possibly timed around the December 6 Babri Masjid demolition anniversary, targeting a crowded or religiously sensitive location.
The network began to unravel after Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) posters surfaced in Srinagar’s Bunpora area on October 19. CCTV scans and subsequent arrests led police to Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned Imam, accused of supplying the posters and helping radicalise several young professionals.
Further investigation indicated Umar’s radical shift began after a 2021 visit to Turkiye with co-accused Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie of Al Falah University, Faridabad. The duo allegedly procured large quantities of chemicals — including 360 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulphur — much of it stored near the university campus.
Srinagar Police foiled Umar’s larger plot after arresting Ganaie and seizing the chemicals. Officials believe the crackdown may have pushed Umar into launching the Red Fort attack prematurely, resulting in the deadly explosion that killed 15 people. (Agencies)
