As investigative agencies dig deeper into the suspicious functioning of the terror-tainted Al-Falah University in Faridabad, more skeletons continue to tumble out of the cupboard. One of the absconding masterminds behind the 2007 Gorakhpur blast and the 2008 Delhi and Ahmedabad serial bombings, Mirza Shadab Baig, had completed his B.Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation from Al-Falah Engineering College, Faridabad, in 2007.
The 2008 Ahmedabad blasts killed 56 people and injured 246, while the Delhi blasts on September 13, 2008, claimed 20 lives and left over 100 injured. Baig was also one of the alleged key conspirators in the German Bakery blast case in Pune.
Baig, a native of Baridi Calganj village in Azamgarh, headed the Azamgarh module of the banned terrorist organisation Indian Mujahideen (IM), which during the Congress-led UPA regime posed one of the biggest internal security threats to India. He has been facing a Red Corner Notice for years and is suspected to be hiding in Pakistan, now believed to have aligned himself with the Islamic State. Agency sources indicate he was last traced to Afghanistan.
Al-Falah University is under the scanner of security agencies after links emerged between some of its students and employees and the prime accused in the recent Red Fort car blast. As many as ten individuals associated with the university—either as students or staff—are reportedly missing. Information also suggests that Baig had radicalised several Muslim youths into the IM module, including his cousin Saquib Nisar.
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In Delhi, Baig lived in Zakir Nagar, where he is said to have secretly organised and supervised terror operations. In 2008, he also visited to Udupi in Karnataka, to procure explosives for the Jaipur blasts. He allegedly supplied a large quantity of detonators and ball bearings to IM operatives Riyaz and Yasin Bhatkal.
Just days ago, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui, founder of Al-Falah University, in connection with a suspected ₹415-crore money-laundering case. In the Red Fort blast probe, security agencies suspect the involvement of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed, whose leaders had recently called for fundraising through digital platforms, including a Pakistan-based app called SadaPay.
Also Read: ED probe uncovers ₹415-cr ‘scam’ at Al Falah varsity
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