Al Falah University in Faridabad, which is already being investigated for its role in a “white collar” terror module and money laundering after its links with the terrorist behind the Red Fort blast, had earlier admitted another student who was involved in the Gorakhpur, Ahmedabad and Jaipur serial bombings, according to a report by NDTV.
Umar Nabi – the man who drove the white Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10 killing more than a dozen people – is not the first terrorist connected to the controversial university. Mirza Shadab Baig, a key member of the Indian Mujahideen (IM), also studied at the university, the outlet reported citing sources.
Who is Mirza Shadab Baig?
Mirza Shadab Baig, is from Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh and completed his B.Tech in Electronics and Instrumentation from Al Falah University in 2007. He was probably still a student when he got involved in planning the blasts, the report mentioned.
Baig was involved in the 2007 Gorakhpur blasts and once his role was confirmed, his property was seized. In 2008, he reportedly travelled to Udupi in Karnataka to collect explosives for the Jaipur blasts. Sources told NDTV, Baig supplied a large number of detonators and bearings to IM members Riyaz Bhatkal and Yasin Bhatkal.
Since Baig studied instrumentation engineering – a field focused on designing and implementing control systems and automation – he understood the technical details of making bombs, the sources added.
Ahead of the Ahmedabad blasts, Baig visited the city around 15 days earlier for a full recce. Three teams were formed, involving Qayamuddin Kapadia, Mujeeb Sheikh and Abdul Raziq. Atif Amin and Baig were also part of these teams. He arranged all the logistics for the terror attacks. He also made the bombs and trained other IM members before the blasts.
He is currently on the run and was last tracked to Afghanistan in 2019. A reward of Rs 1 lakh has been announced for his arrest.
Gorakhpur, Jaipur and Ahmedabad blasts
In May 2007, three bombs placed inside lunch boxes and left on bicycles went off within minutes of each other in a busy shopping area in Gorakhpur. At least six people were injured and the police declared a red alert.
A year later, on May 13, 2008, nine coordinated bomb blasts hit Jaipur, killing more than 60 people. Just weeks later, on July 26, around 20 bombs went off across Ahmedabad within 70 minutes, killing over 50 people.
Police in Rajasthan and Gujarat later said that members of the IM, a radical faction of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), were behind these attacks.
