Red Fort blast charge sheet reveals use of TATP explosive, ‘Operation Heavenly Hind’ plot

New Delhi: The charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency in the 2025 Red Fort blast case has revealed the use of Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) in the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, which killed 11 persons and injured several others.

TATP, according to the charge sheet, was manufactured by the accused clandestinely after procuring materials and conducting experiments to perfect the mixture.

TATP has been deployed in several terrorist attacks as explosive filling of IEDs outside India. In its 7,500-page charge sheet, NIA named 10 accused and said the high-intensity blast that rocked Delhi on November 10, 2025, had also caused extensive damage to property. vehicle-bound IED was used by the banned Jaish-e-Mohammed during the 2019 Pulwama attack.

All the 10 accused, including the main perpetrator Dr Umer Un Nabi, who was killed during the blast, were linked to Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH) - an offshoot of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), as per charges filed before a special court here. AQIS and all its manifestations were notified as a terrorist organisation by MHA in June 2018, NIA said.

"At a clandestine meeting in Srinagar in 2022, the accused had reconstituted AGuH terror outfit as 'AGuH Interim' following a failed migration to Afghanistan via Turkey. Under the umbrella of the newly constituted outfit, they had launched 'Operation Heavenly Hind' aimed at overthrowing the democratically established Indian government and imposing Sharia rule," the agency said.

As part of the Operation Heavenly Hind, the accused 'recruited new members, actively propagated the violent ideology of AGuH, stockpiled arms and ammunition, and manufactured explosives on a large scale using commercially available chemicals'. The accused fabricated and tested various types of IEDs, the NIA found.

NIA, which has unravelled the conspiracy through detailed scientific and forensic investigation, found the accused, some of whom were radicalised medical professionals, were inspired by the AQIS and AGuH ideology.

NIA, which had taken over the investigation from Delhi Police, had established the identity of the deceased accused as Dr Umer Un Nabi through DNA fingerprinting. The accused experimented with rocket and drone-mounted IEDs to target security establishments in J&K and other parts of India.