Three Muslim doctors arrested on suspicion of involvement in a suicide bombing near Delhi’s Red Fort in November, in which eight people were killed, also planned to bomb branches of a global cafe chain founded by a Jew, an Indian government source told The Hindu newspaper.
According to the source, the so-called white-collar terror cell had been active for the past four years.
Footage from the Delhi's Red Fort terror attack in November
The accused doctors, Muzammil Ahmad Ganai and Adeel Majeed Rather from Jammu and Kashmir, and Shaheen Saeed from Uttar Pradesh, told investigators there had been a dispute with Dr. Umar Un Nabi, the terrorist who was killed in the terror attack, over the choice of targets.
By attacking cafe chains in Delhi and other major Indian cities, the suspects said they wanted to send a message to Israel opposing the war in Gaza. Other members of the group had favored limiting the terror plot to attacks on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
A senior government official told the Indian newspaper that the group sought to revive Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, the Indian affiliate of the global terrorist organization al-Qaida. The group was founded by Zakir Musa, who was killed in a clash with Indian security forces in southern Kashmir in 2019. The accused doctors aimed to “enforce Islamic law in the country,” the official said. The last known commander of the organization, Muzammil Ahmad Tantray, was killed in a confrontation with security forces in 2021.
Investigators said the suspects watched instructional videos and planned to manufacture bombs. “That is why thousands of kilograms of explosive materials were found in their possession,” a source familiar with the investigation said. “They carried out numerous experiments mixing different chemicals. The bombs were made from materials available in local shops, which helped them avoid suspicion.”
According to Delhi police, Nabi hastily assembled about 40 kilograms of explosives in a car that detonated on November 10, 2025, killing eight people near the historic Red Fort in a densely populated area of New Delhi.
Police spokesman Sanjay Tyagi said at the time that the explosion occurred in a vehicle near the fort, though the exact cause was initially unclear. The Red Fort, a 17th-century structure in the old city, is a major tourist site visited year-round.
The case is now being investigated by India’s National Investigation Agency, which has so far arrested nine suspects, including the three doctors.