New Delhi: Irfan Ahmad Wagay, a 31-year-old cleric from Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian, has emerged as a key figure in the “interstate and transnational” terror module in Faridabad linked with the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), officials told ThePrint.
The terror module was busted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police during a joint operation with the Haryana police 10 November. A huge cache of arms and ammunition, including 2,900 kilograms of IED-making material, was also seized during the raid. Two doctors were arrested in the case.
According to police, it was Irfan’s rented room in Nowgam that served as the centre of meetings with doctors where the module was conspired.
Senior police officers described Irfan as the “brain” of the module, responsible for radicalising young men, including medical students, by showing them JeM propaganda videos and delivering sermons inspired by the group’s ideology.
He also taught the Quran at a rented room that doubled as a darasgah (religious school) in Nowgam, which served as the hub of his indoctrination efforts. “He believed in radical Islam. There was a madrasa attached to the mosque where he used to radicalise (people),” said a senior official.
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From JeI chief’s village
Irfan hails from Shopian’s Nadigam village, from where also comes Jamaat-e-Islami chief Abdul Hamid Fayaz, and has deep ideological roots.
Police said he was initially influenced by Jamaat-e-Islami, and became more radical under Deobandi–Salafi influences. The Jamaat-e-Islami remains banned in Kashmir, and Fayaz has been imprisoned since 2019.
Shopian and adjoining Kulgam have long been strongholds of Jamaat-e-Islami, producing the majority of South Kashmir’s militant leadership. Notably, Hizbul Mujahideen commander Ghulam Hassan Khan alias Engineer Zaman, who hailed from Tachloo village near Irfan’s hometown, was killed in an encounter with security forces in 2003—in Nowgam, where Irfan later established his base.
Another commander from South Kashmir, Amir Khan, who is currently based in Pakistan and is among the most wanted terrorists on the NIA’s list, also traces his roots to the Jamaat-e-Islami network.
“A highway from Nowgam in (Srinagar) joins with Pulwama district in South Kashmir. It was an active militant hotspot in early 2000s, but it has been dormant lately. After a decade, a new module has emerged there,” a senior officer said.
Irfan completed his religious education at Dar-ul-Uloom Bilaliya in Lal Bazar, Srinagar, and later studied at Bahar-ul-Uloom Darazgarh in Uttar Pradesh between 2017 and 2018. Police are also looking into his Uttar Pradesh links.
Officials said Irfan frequently changed locations and was known to hold meetings at different mosques to evade the spotlight. One such place was Masjid Ali in Nayak Bagh, Srinagar, where he had rented a room to meet doctors and others—gatherings that police say “gave birth to the plan”. Irfan is married with one child. His wife is six months pregnant with their second child.
The posters
The case came to light on 19 October when JeM posters appeared overnight in parts of Srinagar, particularly in Nowgam. The posters carried a warning: “We know who the mukhbirs (informers) are—and they won’t be spared.”
Alerted by the SHO Nowgam, the local Criminal Investigation Department (CID) launched a hunt for the men seen pasting the posters late at night. Within days, three residents of Nowgam—Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid—were arrested.
“During questioning, the trio revealed that it was Maulvi Irfan who had handed them those posters,” a senior Srinagar police officer said.
Acting on the leads, police arrested Wagay on 8 November from his rented accommodation in Chanapora neighbourhood of Srinagar. During searches, they recovered electronic gadgets and evidence suggesting plans for a larger operation.
“It was during interrogation that Irfan broke down and revealed the names of Dr. Muzammil Ganai in Faridabad and Dr. Adeel Rather in Saharanpur,” the senior officer added.
The Jammu and Kashmir police followed the case. In a joint raid with the crime branch of Haryana Police 10 November, it recovered a 2,500 kg cache of IED-making material during a raid at the rented Muzammil Ganai’s premises in Faridabad.
The J&K police also arrested Adeel Ahmad Rather from a hospital in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur.
(Edited by Ajeet Tiwari)