Delhi's Red Fort blast: NIA charge sheet reveals chilling details; the accused searched for "how to make a rocket" on ChatGPT

An investigation into the car blast case in Delhi’s Red Fort area has revealed that the accused, linked to an arm of the global terrorist organization Al-Qaeda, allegedly misused an artificial intelligence (AI) platform for “terror engineering”.

Official sources told PTI on Sunday that the accused persons also manufactured rocket-propelled improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and tested them in Qazigund forest in Jammu and Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

According to PTI, the glaring findings are part of a comprehensive 7,500-page charge sheet filed by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on May 14 in connection with the high intensity vehicular IED blast that rocked Delhi on November 10 last year.

The explosion resulted in the death of 11 people and injured several others, according to the indictment. The charge sheet was filed in a special NIA court in Delhi.

What the graph revealed

The prosecution detailed what officials described as a meticulous, “almost laboratory” approach adopted by the accused in the manufacture and use of IEDs, PTI reported.

One of the accused turned out to be an “in-house engineer” of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGuH), an interim terror cell linked to Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS).

AQIS and all its affiliates have been designated as terrorist organizations by the Ministry of Interior.

Accused Jasir Bilal Wani stayed at the Al Falah University campus in Faridabad, Haryana, two to three times during 2024-25 to provide “technical support” to the conspiracy, the chargesheet said.

The university’s role came under the scrutiny of law enforcement after an investigation revealed that three doctors employed there were allegedly involved in the blast.

Dr. Adeel Ahmed Rather introduced Jasir Dr. Umer un Nabi, the other key accused and the driver of the car loaded with explosives.

NIA findings state that Adeel was instrumental in supplying IED components, including powdered sugar and potassium nitrate in the form of NPK fertilizer, to Jasir.

Meanwhile Dr. Umer reportedly conducted research on improvised rocket-propelled IEDs and provided guidance.

YouTube and ChatGPT roles

The NIA charge alleged that Jasir had turned to YouTube and ChatGPT to search “how to make a rocket and what the ratio of the mixture should be”, highlighting the alleged misuse of digital and AI platforms for terrorist engineering.

Jasir allegedly prepared rocket-propelled IEDs and tested them in the Qazigund forest along with Dr. I’m dying, Dr. Muzammil Shakeel and other co-accused, the indictment says.

The remains of the device were recovered deep inside the forest by NIA teams during extensive field investigations based on the revelations made by Jasir.

According to the registration sheet, Dr. Seeing the potential in Jasir, Umer also provided two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with instructions to improve their range and payload capacity, the NIA probe reveals.

He planned to weaponize the drones by rigging them with explosives to carry out attacks on security installations in Kashmir and other parts of the country.

In another incident, the group tested a cylinder IED in the Youshmurg forest near Mattan in Anantnag, involving Drs. Umer, Yasir, Dr. Muzammil and Dr. Adeel, the record sheet states.

Remnants of these tests were later seized by NIA teams from the locations in Dr. Adeel’s case.

In a controlled simulation conducted by the NIA as part of the investigation, Jasir demonstrated his ability to make functional rocket-propelled IEDs using commercially available materials in front of a team of bomb detection and disposal experts, sources said.

The most chilling forensic find

The most chilling forensic finding concerns the IED trigger mechanism in the vehicle used by Dr. I am dying, they said according to PTI.

Between December 2023 and January 2024, Jasir allegedly placed orders through his Flipkart account for various components used in launchers.

These included a sensor inductive proximity switch, a heat gun, a piezo plate, an RF (radio frequency) transmitter and receiver kit with a remote control relay switch, a flameless rechargeable pocket lighter, a soldering kit and an electronic LED kit as billed by the NIA.

The purchase was financed by Dr. Umer, while Jasir received the items through cash on delivery orders, it said.

These components were later assembled and handed over by Jasir Dr. Umer for use in the manufacture of IEDs.

Finally, Dr Umer used the trigger mechanism to detonate the VB-IED, leading to an explosion near the Red Fort area, the chargehseet said.

The NIA found that the accused were also manufacturing and testing various types of IEDs. The explosive used in the blast was triacetone triperoxide (TATP), which was secretly manufactured after obtaining the basic ingredients and conducting experiments to perfect the explosive mixture.

Earlier, the Srinagar police had busted a blasted ‘doctor’ or ‘white collar’ module comprising medical professionals.

A wider “jihadi conspiracy” was later revealed through a detailed scientific and forensic investigation when the accused, some of whom were radicalized medics, were found to have been inspired by the ideology of AQIS/AGuH to carry out the deadly attack, the NIA said.