New Delhi: Even as a probe has started into the video of Red Fort bomber Umar Un Nabi, another chilling clip purportedly by the main suspect of the Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe blast—justifying the Delhi blast—is under the scanner of investigators.
ThePrint has exclusively accessed a video that surfaced Monday addressed purportedly by Shahid Faisal, the handler of the terror module that carried out the blast at Bengaluru’s Rameshwaram Cafe in 2024. In this video too, Faisal like Nabi justifies suicide bombing.
“What are your comments on the Delhi blast?… Who is behind it? We don’t know… some Muslims also died in the attack but it is clear that Muslims weren’t the target,” Faisal purportedly says in the video, talking about “opportunist and stupid Muslims”.
Then there is a segment wherein Nabi’s photo emerges in the foreground with the caption showing: “the response will come in a language the enemy understands”.
Faisal, however, makes no explicit claim that gives clues about his complicity in the Delhi bombing that killed 15 people.
Investigators handling terror cases gave the example of ISIS to highlight how suicide attacks are presented by terror recruits. In ISIS online grooming chats, they said, suicide attacks are initially passed off as “misguided attempts” and later reframed as “sacrifices” by handlers in conversation with prospective recruits.
“It is common for recruiters to start of by debating on suicide bombing. They try to argue what is justified and what isn’t. Later, they term it as ‘bravery’ that’s not understood by all,” a senior police officer told ThePrint. “They twist the narrative, and coerce individuals into lowering their guards. That is the breaking point.”
A closer look at Faisal’s video shows how he uses Gujarat riots and other such incidents for his terror purpose.
“India isn’t a safe haven or peaceful and someone suddenly attacked,” he says in the video. Then, Faisal focuses on Kashmir and the atrocities of the Muslims. “Muslims in Kashmir have been killed for years. Muslim women have been jailed. Innocent Muslims are punished in India… Muslims are mob lynched and bulldozers are used against them. We know that young men fed up with this are behind this Delhi blast (sic).”
Faisal, the son-in-law of Pakistan-based terrorist Farhatullah Gorhi, is suspected to have found refuge in the neighbouring country. The terror suspect, originally from Bengaluru, figures in the most wanted list of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Meanwhile, investigators are probing to trace the recipients of Nabi’s video and on how many people he targeted using this “reverse psychology” technique.
Reverse psychology involves the assertion of a belief or behavior that is opposite to the one desired, with the expectation that this approach will encourage the subject of the persuasion to do what is actually desired.
Nabi’s video is part of what is being termed as “lone-wolf-cell grooming” where the “mentors” start off with the arguments on suicide bombing and Islam.
“Lone-wolf-cell grooming has grown in the last couple of years because they (recruiters) realised that investigators identify larger groups and chat rooms. So they came up with the concept of lone wolves who make propaganda videos and then send it across. They are experts themselves, including in bomb making, making strategies etc,” the above-mentioned officer said.
Another source in the security establishment explained how videos have been part of the tactics of terror groups across the globe. “Making videos for allegiance and influencing others has been what the ISIS and other other terror groups have been doing for years,” the source said.
In October, the Delhi Police Special Cell arrested two men who had allegedly planned to attack the national capital on Diwali. It is learnt that the duo had made a video swearing allegiance to ISIS. Four years ago, the Special Cell had arrested Mustakim Khan, a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Balrampur, for allegedly planning for a lone wolf strike in Delhi.
(Edited by Tony Rai)