Investigators have uncovered a terrifying portrait of Umar Un Nabi, the highly-educated doctor who detonated a car bomb near Delhi’s iconic Red Fort, killing 13 people: he styled himself as the “emir” – an Arabic prince-like leader – of a white-collar terror cell made up of fellow professionals. Sources told NDTV that the suicide bomber, who spoke nine languages and was described by his own recruits as brilliant enough to have become a nuclear scientist, was obsessed with avenging the 2016 killing of Hizbul commander Burhan Wani and believed Muslims in India faced an imminent genocide.

Recruited by Jaish-e-Mohammed handlers, Umar built a deadly module of doctors and engineers in Haryana. The first recruit, Dr Muzamil Shakeel from Faridabad’s Al-Falah University, confessed he felt like “mere labour” next to Umar’s commanding presence. “We couldn’t resist him. His words were full of facts and research. He always called himself emir and spoke little,” Shakeel told interrogators. The entire plot was codenamed “Operation Emir,” with Umar as its undisputed ruler who radicalised others by constantly highlighting the scrapping of Article 370, the 2023 Nuh communal clashes, and the alleged lynching of Nasir and Junaid by cow vigilantes.

Inside his university hostel room, the soft-spoken doctor secretly mixed acetone, powdered sugar, and urea fertiliser to create a devastating improvised explosive. Originally, the cell planned to smuggle the bomb to Kashmir for a larger spectacle, but when that failed, Umar decided Delhi would be the stage for his revenge. On the day of the attack, he calmly drove a Hyundai i20 packed with a half-finished IED to a crowded traffic signal in Chandni Chowk, detonated it, and turned a historic tourist spot into a scene of carnage.

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Arrested module members have revealed how Umar’s charisma and intellect masked a growing rage. He repeatedly warned his recruits that polarisation was pushing India toward a Muslim genocide and that only violent jihad could stop it. Even in his final days, he insisted the bombing was purely about religion, never personal glory – yet insisted on being addressed as “emir” until the moment he pressed the trigger.

As Delhi mourns the 13 innocent lives lost and police tighten the noose on remaining sleeper cells, the Umar Un Nabi case has exposed a chilling new threat: highly educated, articulate professionals who crown themselves princes of terror and are ready to sacrifice everything for revenge. Security agencies now fear more “white-collar emirs” are already hiding in plain sight across India’s cities.

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