Red Fort blast: All victims were men, only 2 of 8 dead could be identified by night

The two dead who were identified are 34-year-old Ashok Kumar, a native of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, and Amar Kataria, a resident of Sriniwaspuri in Delhi

By 11.30 pm on Monday, of the eight people killed in the explosion outside Red Fort, only two had been identified — 34-year-old Ashok Kumar, a native of Amroha in Uttar Pradesh, and Amar Kataria, a resident of Sriniwaspuri in Delhi.

A man reacts while speaking to the media outside a hospital, following an explosion Red Fort in Old Delhi. (REUTERS)

At Lok Nayak Hospital, families moved from counter to counter — anxious, frightened and desperate for information about their loved ones. When HT met Kataria’s nephew Parth, the family had not yet been told that their relative’s name was on the list of the dead. Follow Red Fort car blast live updates

“I have been here for three hours but have not got any details about my uncle. His phone is unreachable,” said a worried Parth, as he fielded calls from relatives hoping for news.

Frustrated and exhausted, he added, “I last spoke to him when he was on his way back home from work. He runs a garment store in Chandni Chowk. Since then, there has been silence. We got a call from an unknown number saying he had been taken to Lok Nayak Hospital, but no one here is telling us anything. How can they do this? We just want to know if our family member is alive or dead.”

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Till late Monday night, no one from Ashok’s family had reached Lok Nayak Hospital.

According to Sandeep Kumar, 64, who was there looking for his relative Lokesh Agarwal, Ashok was Agarwal’s employee. “Ashok had gone to Red Fort Metro station to pick up Lokesh. We’ve been told Ashok is dead, but we can’t find Lokesh… we have no idea where he is,” Kumar said.