Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir police is investigating the links of suspects arrested last week in Srinagar with the suspected terror module involved in the suicide bombing near Red Fort in the national capital on November 10, The Wire has learnt.A team of investigators from the Srinagar police, accompanied by a forensics team and an executive magistrate, recovered posters of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH), the Kashmir arm of Al-Qaeda, on December 16 following the arrest of three suspects.The recoveries, which also include a Chinese hand grenade, 100 grams of gunpowder and 10 AK-47 live rounds, were made from a graveyard in the Natipora locality of Srinagar after a tipoff was provided by the three arrested suspects. Hilal Ahmad Hajam and Javid Ahmad Hajam are both residents of Brenwar village in Budgam district, and Owais Mubarak Itoo is from south Kashmir’s Shopian district.The trio were arrested on December 13 during a cordon-and-search operation by J&K police’s elite Special Operations Group at Dal Colony in Bemina, a congested suburb along the National Highway-44 on the outskirts of Srinagar.The police claimed to have recovered some posters from their possession and a first information report (number 119/2025) was registered under Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act at Bemina police station in Srinagar.A source privy to the investigations said that during their sustained questioning and scrutiny of digital devices, at least one of them was found to be in touch with the preacher Irfan Ahmad Wagay, a resident of Shopian who was arrested by the National Investigation Agency in connection with the Red Fort blast.The source said that Itoo, a resident of Pandushan who is around 25 years of age, has a degree in religious studies from an Islamic seminary in Uttar Pradesh. From 2023 to 2025, he worked at a Dar-ul-Uloom in the Khiram area of Anantnag.This year, Itoo, who has obtained formal education till eight grade, began working as a khateeb (preacher) at a mosque in Chadoora.The second accused, Hilal Ahmad Hajam, is also formally educated till Class 8 and had been enrolled for religious education at Dar-ul-Uloom Bilaliya in Srinagar’s Hyderpora. Later, he also went to Uttar Pradesh to continue his religious education. During the time of his arrest, he had been working as an imam at a mosque in Umar Iqbal Colony of Natipora.A source said that Hilal was in touch with Wagay, the Delhi blast accused who is at present in the custody of the National Investigation Agency (NIA). Wagay is accused of having played a key role in the alleged radicalisation of some of the accused held in the case.The third accused, Javed Ahmad Hajam, who had also been formally educated till Class 8, had been working as a cook at Dar-ul-Uloom in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district for around six months. He is believed to have obtained his religious education from a seminary in Darwan area of central Kashmir’s Chrari Sharief.A senior officer in Srinagar police said that the arrests suggest that the alleged terror module linked to the Delhi blast could have a presence in other parts of Kashmir.At least 13 civilians were killed while dozens suffered injuries when a Hyundai car, believed to be driven by Umar Nabi, a resident of Koil village in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district who was working as a doctor at Al Falah university in Faridabad, exploded in the crowded old Delhi area on November 10.The blast took place hours after the Srinagar police claimed to have busted an “interstate and transnational terror module” linked with the proscribed AGH and Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfits with the arrest of seven persons, including Wagay and two doctors whom the police described as associates of Nabi.Two more doctors including a woman from Uttar Pradesh were later arrested by the NIA after it took over the investigation of the case.In the aftermath of the Delhi blast, authorities destroyed Nabi’s house. J&K police also led an intense drive to verify the antecedents of medical professionals and others working in the Union territory and outside.Searches in a 2023 caseMeanwhile, the Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) on December 16 detained 12 suspects in the FIR number 03 which was registered at CIK Srinagar police station in 2023 under sections 505 and 153-A of the Indian Penal Code and sections 13 and 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. This case is not related to the Delhi blast case but led to simultaneous searches in areas across Kashmir.An official said that searches were carried out at a dozen locations in Srinagar, Baramulla, Anantnag, Pulwama, Kupwara, Budgam and Shopian districts in connection with “a terror-linked network operating under the guise of social activism”.Police said that investigations have revealed some unknown people were “exploiting platforms linked to mass media, social media, human rights advocacy, environmental causes and women empowerment as a cover to carry out activities gravely prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of India”.“Discreet verification further revealed their suspected links with secessionist groups and proscribed terrorist organisations. Investigations have also brought to light that some of these individuals were allegedly in contact with Pakistan-based terror handlers using encrypted communication applications,” a statement said.“They are suspected to have been actively involved in peddling false narratives, glorifying terrorists and terrorism, radicalising impressionable youth, and systematically attempting to disrupt public order and peace in Jammu & Kashmir,” it added.The police claimed to have recovered 10 mobile phones, a laptop and 14 SIM cards during the searches which “successfully dismantled a dangerous covert network that sought to exploit the credibility of social causes to advance terror agendas”.“The seized digital evidence is expected to unravel deeper layers of the conspiracy, and further arrests cannot be ruled out as the investigation progresses. Investigation is on to unearth the full scale of the conspiracy, identify other conspirators & associates and expose their chain of communication with terrorist-secessionist handlers sitting across the border,” the statement said.