‘Family Trip’: How Doctor Terror Module Surveyed Lucknow Targets For Bigger Attacks | Exclusive

Last Updated:May 25, 2026, 09:57 IST

The NIA claims that between August 25 and August 30, 2025, Dr Muzammil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Saeed travelled to Lucknow in the latter's Maruti Swift.

India’s premier anti-terror agency has uncovered a chilling plot to target key government buildings in Lucknow, allegedly linked to the same terror module accused in the Delhi Red Fort blast case. According to the National Investigation Agency’s chargesheet, two doctors – Dr Muzammil Shakeel and Dr Shaheen Saeed – allegedly used a seemingly ordinary family trip from Faridabad to Lucknow in August 2025 as cover for a detailed reconnaissance mission tied to a larger terror conspiracy.

The NIA claims that between August 25 and August 30, 2025, the duo travelled to Lucknow in Shaheen Saeed’s Maruti Swift. Investigators allege the visit was not personal in nature but part of a carefully planned operation to identify potential targets, explore logistics, and prepare for future attacks in Uttar Pradesh’s capital.

According to the chargesheet, the two stayed both at a relative’s residence and at Shaheen’s ancestral home in Khandari Bazar in Lucknow’s Lal Bagh area. The agency believes the location functioned as an operational base during their stay in the city.

The investigation further alleges that Dr Muzammil searched online for chemical shops in Lucknow that stocked ingredients used in making TATP, a highly volatile explosive often referred to internationally as the “Mother of Satan." The NIA claims Shaheen Saeed wrote down the names of these chemical suppliers by hand at Muzammil’s direction, while a local contact was allegedly asked to physically verify whether large quantities of such chemicals could be procured.

The chargesheet also details alleged reconnaissance carried out around some of Lucknow’s most sensitive government installations located on Vidhan Sabha Road. These included the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha, Lok Bhawan – which houses the Chief Minister’s Secretariat – and Bapu Bhawan, the state Civil Secretariat. Investigators say Muzammil conducted on-foot surveys of the area to study movement patterns, access routes, and security arrangements.

Apart from government complexes, the accused allegedly visited crowded public spaces such as Imambada, Lal Bagh and Aminabad, locations investigators believe may also have been assessed as possible targets.

According to the NIA, technical analysis of Shaheen Saeed’s mobile phone location data placed her near the Vidhan Sabha–Lok Bhawan–Bapu Bhawan complex on August 28, 2025, strengthening the agency’s reconstruction of the alleged conspiracy.

The agency alleges that the AGuH-linked module intended to establish a covert explosives manufacturing base in Lucknow and carry out multiple blasts using methods similar to those employed in the Delhi Red Fort blast case. Investigators say the plans were ultimately foiled after the terror module was busted in October 2025.

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