The Jammu and Kashmir Police's State Investigation Agency (SIA) on Saturday arrested Tufail Niyaz Bhat of Srinagar’s Batamaloo area, adding another name to a case that has widened steadily since posters threatening police and security forces appeared on walls in Nowgam's Bunpora, in mid-October.
What began as an investigation into those posters soon opened into a network that officials have termed a ‘white collar’ terror module.
Senior Superintendent of Police (Srinagar) Dr G. V. Sundeep Chakravarthy personally led the probe, which first focused on CCTV footage from the neighbourhood.
That footage led to the arrest of Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid.
Their interrogation pointed investigators towards Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned Imam, who officials say supplied the posters and influenced the doctors involved.
The case then moved beyond Kashmir. A trail of digital and physical evidence took investigators to Al Falah University in Faridabad. There, Dr Muzzafar Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed were arrested, and 2,900 kg of explosive material was seized.
Officials believe three doctors formed the core of the module: Dr Ganaie, Umar Nabi, the driver of the explosives-laden car that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10, killing 13 people, and Muzzaffar Rather, who is absconding.