In a significant breakthrough in the Delhi blast investigation, key suspect Dr. Muzammil has reportedly confessed to carrying out a reconnaissance of the Red Fort area along with his associate Umar, prior to the deadly explosion that left nine people dead earlier this week.
According to sources close to the investigation, Muzammil was subjected to multiple rounds of questioning after forensic teams analyzed the data dump from his mobile phone. Confronted with the recovered evidence, Muzammil revealed that he and his team had been working on a larger terror plan targeting January 26, Republic Day, and had specifically recced the area around the Red Fort as part of the operation.
Officials said Muzammil also admitted to planning an attack during Diwali in a crowded marketplace or public area, but that plan was later aborted due to undisclosed reasons. This revelation has raised alarms within the security establishment, as it indicates a sustained and organized effort to target high-profile locations and national events.
Muzammil, who is a senior medical professional, is currently under intense interrogation. He came under the scanner after a powerful car explosion near the Red Fort Metro Station on Monday evening. The blast, which killed nine people and injured several others, is now being linked to a wider network of educated individuals allegedly radicalized and working covertly to execute terror plots.
Investigators believe that Umar, who was Muzammil’s close aide and colleague at Al Falah University in Faridabad, died in the car blast itself. Both men were part of a circle of medical professionals who, according to intelligence agencies, were exploiting their education and social standing to further extremist agendas.
Early findings from the probe have uncovered what the Jammu and Kashmir Police have termed a “white-collar terror ecosystem” — a network of highly educated individuals, including doctors and academics, who used their professional identities as cover for coordinating terror activities.
Security agencies are now expanding their investigation to trace the broader network and possible handlers behind Muzammil and Umar. Multiple states, including Haryana and Jammu & Kashmir, have been alerted, and special teams are verifying digital and financial trails linked to the suspects.
Officials have called this case one of the most “disturbing trends” in recent years, as it highlights the infiltration of radical ideologies into professional and academic spaces once considered safe from extremist influence.
“The level of planning, the choice of targets, and the professional backgrounds of those involved make this a deeply concerning development,” said a senior intelligence officer involved in the probe.
The investigation remains ongoing, with teams from the Delhi Police Special Cell, National Investigation Agency (NIA), and Intelligence Bureau (IB) working together to piece together the full scale of the conspiracy.