Footage from 25 CCTV cameras: How cops analysed Umar Un Nabi’s i20 car movement

CCTV footage HT accessed first purportedly shows the i20 car in the outer circle of Connaught Place before showing him in black attire walking

Hours before the Hyundai i20 car exploded near Delhi’s Red Fort on Monday evening, CCTV footage captured 35-year-old Umar Un Nabi, the prime suspect, in Connaught Place and later outside a mosque in Turkman Gate.

CCTV cameras captured Nabi stepping out of the vehicle and walking around it for nearly 10 minutes at Connaught Place’s E Block. (Sourced)

CCTV footage HT accessed first purportedly shows the i20 car in the outer circle of Connaught Place before showing him in black attire walking near the mosque without a mask.

Nabi entered Delhi from the Badarpur border around 8am and drove across southern, central, eastern, and northern Delhi before the car blew up at 6.52pm near the Red Fort.

CCTV cameras captured Nabi purportedly stepping out of the vehicle and walking around it for nearly 10 minutes at Connaught Place’s E Block. “He was wearing a black shirt, black trousers, and brown leather sandals. He appeared calm, not speaking on his phone or meeting anyone. We cannot speculate on why he stopped there,” said a Delhi Police officer.

Near Turkman Gate’s Faiz Ilahi Masjid, the footage shows Nabi leaving the car unmasked around 2.30pm, entering the mosque, offering prayers, and leaving after 10-15 minutes. “He was alone throughout,” said a second officer. He added that this may lend credence to the theory that he was alone in the car at the time of the blast.

Abdul Salim, a mosque staffer, said police visited the mosque. “They showed us footage of a white car and a man they said was the accused. We did not recognise him or recall seeing him that day. We cooperated with the police and told them everything we knew,” he said. Salim added that police questioned the staff about their duties and personal details.

Investigators said the car’s movement was analysed based on footage from over 25 CCTV cameras beginning at a toll plaza near Dhauj village in Haryana’s Mewat just after midnight on Sunday.

It was then sighted at Faridabad’s Asian Hospital around 7.25am on Monday.

The car was seen at a Kalkaji petrol pump at 8.20am before heading towards the DND Flyway. Between 9am and 2pm, investigators said there was a “blackout period,” when the car vanished from camera coverage.

Around 2pm, the i20 was spotted near RK Ashram Marg Metro Station, then at Connaught Place Outer Circle, and Minto Road. By 2.50pm, the car was seen driving past Daryaganj market near the local police station. At 3.19pm, it entered the Red Fort parking lot near Sunehri Masjid and remained there for three hours, leaving at 6.22pm, just half an hour before Monday’s explosion.