Red Fort blast: Police raid Al-Falah University director’s Mhow home, question family

NEw new new delhi: The Delhi constabulary Special cadre and Madhya Pradesh law on Friday raided the Mhow residence of the Al-Falah University director and questioned his family members in connection with the Red Fort blast.Javed Ahmed Siddiqui (61), director of Al-Falah University, and his family were questioned after the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Thursday widened its probe into the alleged terror network operating through Al-Falah Medical College and its parent university in Faridabad, seeking records dating back to 2019 as part of the ongoing investigation into Monday’s deadly Red Fort blast.The NIA and Delhi Police teams raided the Okhla office of the Al-Falah Group on Thursday and seized land documents and financial files.Officials said NIA sleuths have demanded extensive details of hostel allocations, faculty recruitment, and financial transactions from Al-Falah University, which runs several educational and research institutions. The agency is specifically looking into whether the three doctors – Umar Un Nabi, the man who executed the blast in the white Hyundai i20 car outside Red Fort, and Shaheen Shahid and Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie – exploited their positions to recruit others, raise funds, and coordinate logistics for the attack.Senior police officers said a joint team reached Mhow early on Friday, and searches were carried out to verify financial trails and check possible links between Siddiqui and the two MBBS doctors arrested earlier this week.As of now, no connection of the university has been found to the attack, the officers said.At the Okhla office, the university’s legal advisor, Mohammad Raazi, told HT, “We had no idea of the doctors’ activities. Our campus was never used for any funding or experiment linked to terror. The police have taken documents and we are fully cooperating.”The widening terror probe has also revived scrutiny of Al-Falah University’s management and financial practices. Delhi Police officers said Siddiqui, who has long been associated with the Al-Falah group since the 1990s, is linked to at least nine institutions, many of which operate from a common Okhla address.Siddiqui was previously arrested in a cheating case in 2000 for allegedly misappropriating ₹7.5 crore from investors through fake investment firms.Police said he was accused of luring investors into shell companies under the Al-Falah banner, including Al-Falah Education Service, Al-Falah Investment Ltd, and Al-Falah Exports, all registered at a common Okhla address. He was jailed for three years before being acquitted in 2005.Officers said more raids are expected in Delhi, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh as investigators try to ascertain the financial and logistical details of the module’s plan.