In 1993, there was a grenade attack on the police in Deoband, Uttar Pradesh and a few months later, a Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist was arrested in this case and he received bail next year. This is the story of Nazir Ahmed alias Mustafa Bani alias Javed Iqbal.
Afterwards, Nazir was caught from Srinagar on 17th November 2024, and he was found to have been deceiving everyone for around 30 years by changing his name, attire and location. He also contested for the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections while he was absconding, and even became a top campaigner for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). He nearly became the party’s candidate in the recently concluded poll in the union territory, according to a report.
OpIndia’s investigation has revealed that Nazir Ahmed Wani has been constantly altering his identity. His name in the case registered in Deoband is Nazir Ahmed but he stayed in Saharanpur as Mushtaq Ahmed. He spent his jail time under the name of Farari Mustafa and returned to Kashmir just after he obtained bail. He then changed his name to Javed Iqbal Wani. He also changed his address which used to be Inzak Sharifabad in Budgam district which falls under the jurisdiction of Parimpura police station.
He started to live in Haker Mulla village near Soibugh town of Budgam district after he went back to the valley. Around fifty active terrorists have reportedly fled the police station area where Nazir Ahmed Wani resided at different times, per police sources.
Nazir Ahmed was 20 years old and unmarried at the time of the grenade attack on Uttar Pradesh Police. He married Sabrina Nazir as soon as he was released on bail and traveled to Kashmir and has three children, Sugra, Sadat and Makit. He purchased a Wagon R car in 2019. He and his wife were described as businessmen in official documents. Nazir Ahmed Wani also contested the 2024 Jammu and Kashmir assembly election. He had filed a nomination as an independent candidate against Chief Minister Omar Abdullah from Budgam’s seat. According to the information available on the Election Commission website, he secured only 1583 votes while NOTA got 1757 votes. He had previously participated in the local elections as well and lost them too.
A report in Dainik Bhaskar stated that Nazir Ahmed had asked for a ticket from AAP for the assembly poll but the party learned that he was a terrorist at the last moment and didn’t grant him the ticket. We tried to contact the leaders of AAP’s Jammu and Kashmir unit but couldn’t obtain their side of the story.
The same report mentioned that Nazir was trained in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (POK) and Afghanistan between 1989 and 1991 after which he arrived at Deoband in 1991, and started living there while concealing his identity.
The grenade attack in Deoband is not included in Nazir Ahmed’s affidavit submitted for the assembly election. Only one case has been mentioned which was registered against him in January 2023 in Budgam district. Action was taken in the case under sections 341 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Notably, Nazir Ahmed Wani was charged in 1993 under Section 307 of the IPC and Explosives Act for throwing grenades at civilians and policemen. Another First Information Report was filed against him for using forged documents in 1994, following his arrest, under sections 467, 468, and 471 of the IPC.
It has been over 30 years since Nazir Ahmed was involved in these two incidents. Dainik Jagran quoted Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Budgam Nikhil Borkar and claimed that there is no terrorist case registered against Nazir Ahmed in any part of Kashmir. However, a criminal case was lodged against him.
Nazir Ahmed was active on Facebook under the name of Wani Javed Iqbal. His association with AAP was confirmed after searching for his profile.
His name appears on the list of the top 40 celebrity campaigners for the latest assembly election, according to an official letter from the party’s Delhi headquarters. This letter was issued by AAP’s nodal person Bipul Day on 24th August.
Javed Iqbal’s name is featured at number 38. Copies of the letter were forwarded to New Delhi and Jammu Kashmir Election Commission. He also thanked the party for the same through his Facebook profile. We made several attempts to contact the Jammu and Kashmir unit of AAP to ascertain the truth about the letter and Javed Iqbal.
A Saharanpur court issued a permanent warrant against Nazir Ahmed on 20th May 2024 after which the police announced a reward of Rs 25,000 for his arrest. On 17th November, the Uttar Pradesh Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) arrested him from Srinagar. A report quoted Saharanpur Superintendent of Police (Rural) Sagar Jain and disclosed that Nazir Ahmed had been evading capture for so long by assuming different identities.
