From Pulwama to Faridabad: Red Fort blast probe focuses on terror web

NIA took over the probe in the case on Tuesday after police registered an FIR under the stringent anti-terror law

Investigators probing the rush-hour car explosion outside Red Fort in Delhi turned their attention on Tuesday to an extremist module busted in Faridabad who they linked to terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and a doctor hailing from Pulwama in Jammu & Kashmir, as authorities attempted to tighten the dragnet around a group of suspects with several detained across four states.

The blast took place at 6.52pm on Monday at Netaji Subhash Marg when the slow-moving i20 – which had been sold multiple times, retrofitted with a CNG tank, and had a registration number HR26CE7674 – stopped at a traffic signal, close to the Red Fort metro station. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

The toll from the explosion in a white Hyundai i20 car in the heart of old Delhi on Monday evening climbed to 10 as the government vowed to hunt down those responsible for the blast that ripped through a clutch of vehicles and was heard even 2km away.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) took over the probe in the case on Tuesday after police registered a first information report (FIR). Police filed a case against unknown persons under the stringent anti-terror law but no outfit or person was officially named as a suspect.

Investigators said they have 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.

On Tuesday, police detained another doctor suspected to be part of the same network, Shaheen Shahid’s brother, Parvez Saeed Ansari, from Lucknow. Others in the agency’s radar include 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.

Agencies also combed through the life of Umar Un Nabi, who studied and worked in Kashmir before joining the Al Falah Hospital in Faridabad and who was suspected to have been driving the i20, raising the possibility of a larger coordinated network of terrorists likely getting their instructions from across the border.

A Delhi Police Special Cell officer said, “Umar and his associates were part of a doctors’ terror module with 10-12 members. They have at least five doctors working together with organisations from other countries.”

Investigators said that the suspect probably panicked after the raids this week in Faridabad, across the national capital region and in Jammu and Kashmir, which led to the arrest of others in the alleged module.

“The explosion was caused by panic and desperation due to raids carried out by the security agencies to nab them. The bomb was premature and not fully developed, thus limiting the impact,” said an official aware of the developments. “The explosion did not create a crater, and no shrapnel or projectiles were found,” the official added.

However, the probe didn’t officially rule out the possibility of it being a deliberate attack.

The official also underlined the swift response of the government and agencies. “In response to dismantling the JeM module linked to the explosion near the Red Fort, India has acted swiftly and decisively against terrorism,” the official added.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi Police filed an FIR, invoking sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, including Section 16 (punishment for terrorist acts) and Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy). Additionally, charges under the Explosive Substances Act, specifically Section 3 for causing an explosion likely to endanger life and Section 4 for the attempt to cause an explosion, were added. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) was also applied, including sections 103(1) for murder, 109(1) for attempt to murder, and 61(2) for criminal conspiracy.

“There was a loud explosion. The wall of the chowki collapsed due to the explosion. The police staff rushed to the site and witnessed cars that were burning, while the injured were lying on the road. All the injured were taken to a hospital,” said the FIR registered at Kotwali station.

The blast took place at 6.52pm on Monday at Netaji Subhash Marg when the slow-moving i20 – which had been sold multiple times, retrofitted with a CNG tank, and had a registration number HR26CE7674 – stopped at a traffic signal, close to the Red Fort metro station. The ensuing blaze engulfed at least six cars, two e-rickshaws, one auto and a bus.

The Centre promised swift retribution. “Chaired review meetings on the Delhi car blast with the senior officials. Instructed them to hunt down each and every culprit behind this incident. Everyone involved in this act will face the full wrath of our agencies,” said Union home minister Amit Shah.

Authorities were examining an unverified claim received over Telegram from the Lashkar-e-Taiba, claiming responsibility for the blast.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on a trip to Bhutan, said the nation stood with the victims – among them a small-time businessman, a cart vendor, a taxi driver, a shopkeeper and a bus conductor, many of them travelling from small towns such as Deoria, Amroha and Shamli to the Capital with dreams of a better life.

“I assure everyone that our investigative agencies will get to the bottom of this conspiracy. Whoever is responsible for this will not be spared at any cost,” Modi said in Thimphu.

Investigators combed through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage and the mangled wreckage of the explosion to trace the journey of the i20 and the occupants inside it. Security agencies focussed on what they described as a “white-collar terror network” spanning Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, that may have been planning an attack for months.

Investigators also suggested that behind the blast was ammonium nitrate, a dual-use chemical widely valued as a popular fertiliser but whose volatile nature makes it a component for improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Police officers in Delhi said that it may have been mixed with fuel oil to make Ammonium Nitrate Fuel Oil Explosive (ANFO), which was used in the 2019 Pulwama attack and which may have been why the fire on Monday evening burnt so hot and charred some of the victims beyond recognition.

Investigators also traced the last 17 hours of the i20, which was registered in Gurugram in Haryana to a man identified as Mohammed Salman, who sold the vehicle to a man named Devender, a resident of Okhla, around one-and-a-half years ago.

Devender then sold the car to a man from Ambala and it finally ended up with a man identified as Tariq, an associate of Umar.

CCTV footage and data obtained from a toll plaza helped the investigators piece together the car’s journey. According to the footage, the car was spotted on Sunday midnight at a toll plaza in Mewat, till the Red Fort parking on Monday around 3.19pm, which it exited at 6.22pm.

In at least two CCTV grabs – one taken at the Red Fort parking on Monday evening and another at Sector 37, Faridabad, near a pollution control checkpoint on October 29 – a partial profile of Umar could be seen.

“The car’s trail is important to establish whom the suspect met before the explosion. Multiple teams from different district police units are tracking the CCTV cameras along the route. Depending on the clarity of the CCTV footage, this will help investigators in establishing if there was a second person in the vehicle during the day. It may also shed light on whether the explosives were transported from Faridabad right in the morning or loaded at one of the locations in the city during the day,” said an officer who asked not to be named.

The families of the accused doctors expressed shock.

Muzamila, Umar’s sister-in-law, said she was in disbelief that her studious brother-in-law, who was engaged to be married, had been involved in the blast. “They asked us about Umar’s whereabouts and we said he is in Delhi. We spoke to Umar on Friday and I told him to come home. He said he would come soon,” she said, denying having any information about Adeel Ahmed Rather, who was also from her village and arrested in the Faridabad arms haul case.

On Monday, the first call to the Delhi fire department came at 6.55pm and the fire was doused at 7.29pm. The first victims were rushed to the Lok Nayak Hospital at 7pm. Visuals showed debris scattered across the road at an intersection with cars, motorbikes, autos and e-rickshaws mangled and burnt, and twisted metal strewn around.

Among the victims was 32-year-old Dinesh Mishra of Ganeshpur village in Shravasti district, who was working at a printing press in Delhi’s Chawri Bazar to support his wife and three children.

His father, Bhure Mishra, said that Dinesh had spent Diwali at home and then returned to work.

“He was a hardworking man. He wanted to give his children a good education,” said Bhure Mishra. “We still can’t believe he is gone.”