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Umar assembled IEDs in rush inside i20: Cops
Forensic teams examining the charred remains of the car have recovered electronic detonators, remote timers, batteries, and broken bottles of chemicals.
Investigators have confirmed that Umar un-Nabi, the primary suspect and driver of the Hyundai i20 that exploded in a deadly blaze outside Delhi’s Red Fort on Monday, had assembled crude improvised explosive devices (IEDs) inside the vehicle hours before the blast, officials aware of the investigation said on Thursday.
Forensic teams examining the charred remains of the car have recovered electronic detonators, remote timers, batteries, and broken bottles of chemicals, indicating that Nabi had been attempting to create a functioning explosive device, senior officials, who asked not to be identified, said.
The explosion, which occurred on Monday evening, ripped through the busy road near the Red Fort, killing at least 11 people. The blast sent shockwaves across the Capital and the country, prompting a multi-agency investigation led by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and police in Delhi, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, and Haryana.
“From the examination of the site, it appears that Umar used high intensity explosives to cause the blast. He may not have been an IED expert, but knew enough to trigger a blast,” said an official involved in the investigation.
“The items recovered from the site show that they were premature, and loosely made. The fact that other items such as timers and batteries were found intact also goes to show that there were multiple IEDs he prepared but was unsuccessful in making it explode,” the official said, adding that there was no projectile or shrapnel that could have caused even bigger damage, given the intensity of the explosives.
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“Black slabs and batteries were found intact. There were no iron nails or shrapnel—common in fully constructed IEDs. It was a premature device,” another investigator said.
The official also said that Nabi was unable to contact anyone because his phone was switched off the whole time and barring a 10-minute stay inside a mosque in Turkman Gate, it appears he did not meet anyone.
“We have not found any footage of him meeting anyone after that,” said a senior officer. “He seemed desperate, assembling a device with whatever material he could gather before triggering it near the monument.”
