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Delhi blast: Gaps in Umar’s last drive under scrutiny
Officials aware of the matter said Umar allegedly had prepared IEDs inside the i20 that he was driving and which eventually blew up in front of the Red Fort
Investigators turned their attention on Thursday to fully reconstructing the final hours of Kashmiri doctor Umar Un Nabi, who allegedly carried out the car explosion near the Red Fort earlier this week, to ascertain if he was in touch with other, yet unidentified, members of an alleged terror module even as at least five people across two states were detained in the case.
The developments came on a day security agencies focussed on four cars – allegedly owned by Umar and another arrested accused Dr Shaheen Shahid– and said the ammonium nitrate allegedly used in the blast was likely sourced from fertiliser shops and mining suppliers in Basai Meo, Tauru, and Ferozepur Jhirka in Mewat and rural Faridabad.
Officials aware of the matter said Umar allegedly had prepared IEDs inside the i20 that he was driving and which eventually blew up in front of the Red Fort, basing their findings on the recovery of items from the charred vehicle – which included electronic detonators, remote timers, battery and broken bottles of chemicals.
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“From the examination of the site, it is clear that Umar made an IED with whatever he could find that day. The fact that detonators and timers were found shows that he made the IED. The chemicals have been identified by the forensic experts. There are different types of chemicals recovered from the site, of which one has been identified,” an official aware of the matter said.
The government also vowed exemplary action and ordered a forensic audit of all records of the Al Falah University, where several of the accused worked, and asked the Enforcement Directorate and other agencies to check the financial antecedents of the Haryana-based institution, officials said.
“All those who committed this cowardly act and those behind it will be brought before the law and given the strictest possible punishment…Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s resolve to ensure strict punishment for all those responsible for this terrorist act will definitely be fulfilled,” Union home minister Amit Shah said in Gujarat, according to a government statement.
“Punishment for the perpetrators of the Delhi terror attack will send a message to the world that no one should ever dare to even think of such an attack in our country,” he added.
At 6.52pm on Monday at Netaji Subhash Marg, a slow-moving white i20 – which had been sold multiple times, retrofitted with a CNG tank, and had a registration number HR26CE7674 – blew up at a traffic signal, close to the Lal Quila metro station. The ensuing blaze killed at least 11 people and injured 21. One person died of his injuries on Thursday and his body is yet to be claimed by family or acquaintances.
After a manhunt spanning four states, investigators pinned the crime on an extremist module busted in Haryana’s Faridabad allegedly linked to terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and a group of individuals with links to Al Falah University located there.
Investigators say they successfully linked JeM posters appearing in Nowgam in Kashmir on October 18, the arrests of three doctors – Adeel Rather from Saharanpur, Muzammil Shakeel Ganaie from Faridabad, and Shaheen Shahid from Lucknow – the recovery of nearly 2,900kg of ammonium nitrate and other explosive material and firearms in Faridabad this week, and the evening blast in Delhi.
Police have also arrested Shahid’s brother, Parvez Saeed Ansari, Irfan Ahmad Waghay, a maulvi from Shopian, and Mewat resident Hafeez Mohammad Ishtiyaq, an imam at the Al Falah Mosque from whose house explosives were recovered. In addition, it has detained five people, including two more doctors from Uttar Pradesh.
Investigators say the prime accused is Umar, who studied and worked in Kashmir before joining the Al Falah Hospital in Faridabad and who was driving the i20, raising the possibility of a larger coordinated network of terrorists likely getting their instructions from across the border.
On Thursday, DNA samples taken from a severed leg stuck between the car’s accelerator and steering confirmed that the man driving the vehicle was Umar.
“We had recovered multiple body parts from the car and the blast site, apart from the premises of the nearby post, religious structures, and shops. One severed charred leg was found stuck between the steering and accelerator of the car. The FSL has confirmed that the DNA sample taken from that leg has matched the sample of Umar’s mother, who was taken into custody in Kashmir. Her sample was collected there, flown to Delhi, and handed over to the FSL for testing,” said a police officer, who asked not to be named.
Agencies are also probing the possibility of attacks planned at other locations due to the large amount of explosive materials recovered, and detentions and arrests across the country, said officials aware of the matter.
But the focus of the probe is now on plugging gaps in the reconstruction of Umar’s final day and answering the following questions – whether he met someone at the Faiz Ilahi mosque in Turkman Gate at 2.30pm, four hours before the explosion and if he was being instructed by someone as he drove around the Capital on Monday.
Police have questioned six to sevenpeople at places Umar visited on Monday, including members of the mosque, shopkeepers and other doctors who knew him.
Police have scanned footage from more than 50 CCTV cameras in Delhi and Faridabad from Sunday night to Monday evening, the officials said. HT had first reported that the car was spotted at a toll plaza in Mewat near Dhauj village around midnight on Sunday. The car was later spotted crossing another toll plaza at Ferozepur Jhirka in Haryana’s Nuh around at about 1.37am on Monday. CCTV footage of the car crossing the toll plaza surfaced on Thursday.
Policesaid Umar travelled from Haryana to Delhi through the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway in the early hours of Monday, halted for food at a roadside eatery, before parking his vehicle at a secluded place and spending the night inside it.
Officials said that the car was next spotted outside the Asian hospital in Faridabad at 7.25am on Monday, after which it moved towards Delhi via the Delhi-Mathura Road. It was then spotted at the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) toll plaza in south Delhi’s Badarpur at 8.13am. The next location of the car was at a petrol pump in Kalkaji where it reached at 8.20am via the Modi Mill flyover. Thereafter, the car was seen moving towards the Delhi-Noida Direct (DND) flyway around 9am.
“The car then travelled to east Delhi and reached central Delhi, where it was spotted near RK Ashram Marg Metro station and then on the Connaught Place’s Outer Circle around 2pm. The car briefly stopped near CP’s E-block, where Umar was seen getting out of the car without wearing his mask and roaming around for 10 minutes,” said a police officer, who asked not to be named.
Two more chunks of footage – one showing the car in Connaught Place and another outside the Faiz Ilahi mosque in Turkman Gate at 2.30pm – surfaced on Thursday. The police have confirmed that Umar visited the mosque and remained there for nearly 15 minutes before leaving again in the car towards Daryaganj, where the car was captured by a CCTV camera near the Daryaganj police station.
Police said he entered the mosque and left after 15 minutes. “He was alone and we suspect that he must have spoken to a source either on his phone or using someone else’s phone in the daytime. He was unmasked. There’s also a gap where we don’t know where he went. We suspect he did manage to speak to one of his handlers who further instructed him about the plan” said the officer cited above.
Abdul Salim, a mosque staffer responsible for booking the ground for weddings, confirmed to HT that police visited the mosque Tuesday night. On Thursday, a senior cleric at the mosque said he and six of his associates were questioned.
“We were only questioned inside the mosque. We are helping the police. There are over 16 cameras, inside and outside the mosque. He is seen in them and it looks like he’s talking to someone. We are not sure. None of us could even recognise him. A lot of people come here during and after Namaaz time. He could have come and offered prayers. But I think he was only roaming outside. The police took the entire DVR system and are checking. We are helping them,” he said.
