The probe into the Delhi Red Fort car blast has now expanded to include Javed Ahmed Siddiqui, founder and managing trustee of Al-Falah University in Faridabad. The university hired two of the three main suspects, Dr Shaheen Saeed and Dr Mujammil Shakeel.
The university is already under a separate Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation over its funding sources.
Officials said Siddiqui’s vast corporate network and an old cheating case, in which he and an associate were accused of a Rs 7.5-crore fraud and jailed for three years, have become central to a parallel probe.
The university’s legal advisor, Mohd Razi, has refuted all allegations of fraud against Siddiqui, including the Rs 7.5-crore claim. He said he was not aware of the recruitment of Dr Shakeel, saying that hiring and background checks were handled by the Vice-Chancellor.
Born in Mhow, Madhya Pradesh, Siddiqui serves on the board of nine companies. All are linked to the Al-Falah Charitable Trust, which oversees the university’s operations.
These nine companies span education, software, financial services, and energy sectors. In a key red flag, most of them share the same registered address — Al-Falah House in Jamia Nagar, Okhla, New Delhi.
The nine companies include:
1. Al-Falah Investment (established in 1992)
2. Al-Falah Medical Research Foundation (where the accused doctors worked and allegedly discussed plans for a 32-car serial blast)
3. Al-Falah Developers Pvt Ltd
4. Al-Falah Industrial Research Foundation
5. Al-Falah Education Service Pvt Ltd
6. MJH Developers Pvt Ltd
7. Al-Falah Software Pvt Ltd
8. Al-Falah Energies Pvt Ltd
9. Tarbia Education Foundation
Most of these companies remained active till 2019 before becoming defunct or inactive. The Al-Falah Medical Research Foundation, however, grew significantly. What began in 1997 as an engineering college now runs on a 78-acre campus but is currently under NAAC scrutiny.
The Al-Falah Building is also the office of the Al-Falah Charitable Trust.
The old cheating case that has resurfaced was filed at the New Friends Colony Police Station in Delhi. The complaint accused Siddiqui and his partners of running fake investment schemes through Al-Falah group firms.
They allegedly persuaded people to deposit money into Al-Falah companies, later forging documents to show these deposits as shares. The collected Rs 7.5 crore was then diverted into the personal accounts of the accused.
Siddiqui was detained in 2001. In March 2003, the Delhi High Court rejected his bail plea after forensic evidence showed signatures on the share certificate were forged. He finally secured bail in February 2004, but only after agreeing to return investors’ money.
In January 2020, Delhi Police again raided the Okhla office after more complaints that Siddiqui had cheated investors, mostly from poor Muslim families, by luring them into “halal” investment schemes.
The Red Fort Blast
As many as 13 individuals were killed when a white Hyundai i20 packed with explosives, including ammonium nitrate fuel oil, exploded at a busy junction near the Red Fort.
The car was driven by Umar Mohammad, a Jaish-e-Mohammed operative. Investigators have now uncovered a terrifying plan, 32 cars were allegedly part of a larger serial bombing plot across Delhi, intended as “revenge” for the Babri Masjid demolition.
Also Read: DNA links Pulwama doctor to Red Fort car blast
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