Delhi car blast: 'Madam Surgeon' emerges as key player in 'D-6 Mission'

LUCKNOW/KANPUR: Investigators are racing to close the arc of a Jaish-e-Mohammed project they said was years in the making - one that turned a campus doctor into "Madam Surgeon" of a cross-border terrorist blueprint.The alleged architect linking these threads is 43-year-old Dr Shaheen Shahid - "Madam Surgeon" in the underground lexicon of the JeM module of medics accused of the Nov 10 New Delhi car blast and preparing coordinated terrorist strikes on six cities, investigators said.Investigators described Shaheen, arrested in Faridabad, as a key asset. Seized digital evidence, handwritten diaries and planning notes - now central to the case - describe a plan for a Dec 6 strike aimed at "avenging" the 1992 Babri Masjid demolition. The papers outline "D-6 Mission", target lists, recruitment pitches, fund movements and secure communication protocols. Investigators also identified roles assigned to Kashmiri doctors Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Umar Un Nabi, alongside Shaheen, who allegedly joined a deeper JeM-backed structure in 2021.The probe has allegedly uncovered an Rs 20-lakh hawala channel routed through a JeM handler for operational use by Umar, Muzammil and Shaheen - money suspected to have funded recruitment, safe houses, secure phones and reconnaissance.

Agencies have begun an audit of Shaheen's financial footprint, scrutinising every high-value transfer, cash withdrawal and unexplained deposit across her three Kanpur accounts, two Lucknow accounts and two Delhi accounts. The hunt: any tie to the foreign-funded module.Teams are also reconstructing Shaheen's movements in Kanpur, especially at GSVM Medical College, where she worked until her unexplained disappearance.

Officials are collecting entry logs, duty rosters, visitor lists and details of where she stayed between Jan and Oct 2025. Colleagues remembered a soft-spoken doctor from Lucknow who rarely took leave, brought her young child to duty because there was "no one at home", and avoided speaking about her divorce.

She lived in an L-Block campus residence, maintained cordial ties with women co-workers, and vanished in Dec 2013 after handing over HOD responsibilities, promising to return by Jan 4, 2014.

She never did. For nearly a year, official letters went unanswered. In 2016, two staffers sent to her registered address found it incorrect. She was formally dismissed in 2021.Interrogations showed that in March 2022, the module travelled to Turkiye for a meeting with ISI handler Abu Ukasha, allegedly securing a "green signal" for the Dec 6 plan. The timeline under reconstruction spans 2010 ideological drift, 2015-16 induction into JeM circles, and structured planning from 2021 as part of a project backed by Pakistan-based handlers.A former GSVM staffer recalled her transformation beginning around 2010 after contact with an Indian-origin doctor abroad who shared ideological videos and literature. She soon adopted new attire, including a hijab, and repeatedly spoke of relocating overseas.According to officials, her ideological shift was unmistakable by 2021. When confronted by a relative about abandoning her marriage, job and family, she allegedly said: "I have lived enough for myself. Now, it's time to repay the debt of my community."