New Delhi [India], November 20 : Al-Falah University in Haryana has come under intense scrutiny after intelligence agencies uncovered several alarming details linking one ex-student to terror activities. The development follows the arrest of Dr. Umar Nabi, accused in the November 10 Delhi blast, whose connection to the university has raised fresh concerns.
According to intelligence reports, Nabi is not the first individual associated with Al-Falah to be linked to terrorism. One alumni from Al-Falah has previously been found involved in terrorist activities.
One of the most prominent names to resurface is that of Mirza Shadab Beg, one of the keen member of the Indian Mujahideen. Beg completed his B.Tech in Electronics & Instrumentation from Al-Falah Engineering College in Faridabad in 2007. A year later, he was found involved in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial blasts.
Beg has been absconding for years, with sources believing he is currently hiding in Afghanistan.
The Delhi blast has triggered a renewed wave of investigations into Al-Falah University, located in Dhauj, Faridabad. Originally established as the Al-Falah School of Engineering and Technology, the institution was granted university status in 2014 under the Haryana Private Universities Amendment Act.
Intelligence inputs also highlight Beg's pivotal role in the 2008 Jaipur bombings.
Prior to the attack, he travelled to Udupi to source explosives. He later supplied Riaz and Yasin Bhatkal with a large number of detonators and ball bearings used to assemble IEDs.
Due to his background in Instrumentation Engineering, Beg was considered highly skilled in bomb-making.
About 15 days before the Ahmedabad blasts, Beg reportedly conducted a thorough reconnaissance of the city. He worked with three teams, planning the attacks and handling logistics, IED fitting, and bomb assembly.
Beg's name had earlier surfaced in the 2007 Gorakhpur serial blasts, which left six people injured. After his ties with the Indian Mujahideen surfaced, Gorakhpur Police seized his property.
Beg has been on the run since the Indian Mujahideen network was exposed in 2008.
Authorities announced a ₹1 lakh reward for information leading to his arrest. Despite multiple crackdowns, he remains untraceable, with the last reported sighting in Afghanistan in 2019.
The Al Falah University has come under scrutiny after the arrest of several doctors in connection with the November 10 blast near Delhi's Red Fort, which killed 15 people and injured many others. The suicide bomber, Dr Umar Un Nabi, a Kashmiri resident, was associated with the varsity.
ED initiated an investigation against the Al Falah group on the basis of two FIRs registered by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, based on the allegations that Faridabad-based Al-Falah University has made fraudulent and misleading claims of National Assessment Accreditation Council (NAAC) accreditation with an intention to deceive students, parents, and stakeholders for wrongful gain.
A Delhi court in a ruling in the early hours on Wednesday remanded Al Falah Group Chairman, Jawad Ahmed Siddiqui to 13 days of Enforcement Directorate (ED) custody, till December 1, noting in a detailed remand order that there exist reasonable grounds to believe he committed the offence of money laundering linked to large-scale fraud, forged accreditation claims, and diversion of funds from the Al-Falah University ecosystem.
Meanwhile, NIA is continuing to explore various angles to unravel the conspiracy behind the bombing. Several teams of the anti-terror agency are pursuing multiple leads and are conducting searches across states to identify every person involved in the terror attack.