3 min readNew DelhiUpdated: Feb 19, 2026 10:13 AM IST
On Tuesday evening, a patrol from the Kotwali police station made a discovery that put the force on sudden alert.
It was a Hyundai Santro, black, with a Jammu & Kashmir number. It was parked near Dilli Chalo Park behind Red Fort. Sitting inside were two individuals, seemingly doing nothing.
A little more than three months ago, on November 10, 2025, a white Hyundai i20 had exploded on the street in front of Red Fort, killing 15 people. The car was being driven allegedly by Umar Nabi, a doctor from Kashmir.
Following the blast, Delhi Police had stepped up surveillance around Red Fort, including intensified round-the-clock patrolling. It was one such patrol that had spotted the Santro.
The men were asked who they were, and what they were doing there, sources in the police said. One of them gave his name as Mudassar Ahmed Mir (36). He was an officer of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the man said. His companion was a minor boy.
Mudassar presented what was purportedly his NIA ID. The document looked suspicious to the patrol team.
Mudassar said both he and the minor were from Pulwama. This was the same place to which Umar Nabi and his alleged aide Muzammil Ganai belonged.
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Warning signals were now flashing red. The duo were quickly taken to the Kotwali police station, sources said. Several hours of interrogation by officers of the Delhi Police Special Cell, NIA, and the Intelligence Bureau followed, the sources said.
In the end, the law enforcement authorities heaved a collective sigh of relief. The fears turned out to be unfounded – sort of. Mudassar turned out to be only a petty crook and cheat, police said – not any worse.
“The man’s ‘NIA’ ID card was forged; the NIA does not issue such IDs. It has emerged that Mudassar is a cheat who hoodwinks common people using fraudulent identities with promises of jobs. A case has been registered and he has been arrested,” Raja Banthia, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North), said.
Based on the interrogation, this is what police are learned to have found:
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Mudassar, the owner of a loss-making garage in Kashmir, had bought the 15-year-old Santro second-hand. He had brought the minor – the son of a mason in Kashmir – to Delhi after promising to find him a “job”. A deal was struck for Rs 10,000, and he allegedly took an advance of Rs 3,000 from the family.
“Mudassar and the minor reached Delhi on February 13, and checked into a guest house in the Jama Masjid area,” a police officer said. The next day, he started to reach out to his contacts to try to swing a job for the minor.
But things didn’t work out – and the minor was preparing to leave Delhi. Until the police spotted them.
