Red Fort blast: 2 men in i20 car with key suspect Umar on October 29 identified

The white Hyundai i20 was first spotted at a toll plaza in Haryana’s Mewat region around Sunday midnight

New Delhi: Investigators have now identified the two men who accompanied Red Fort blast key suspect Dr Umar un Nabi in the Hyundai i20 car that stopped at a petrol pump in sector 27 Faridabad for a PUC certificate on October 29. “The car occupants have been identified as Amir Rashid Mir, a Kashmir-based plumber, and Sonu, who sold the car to him,” said a senior police officer, aware of the matter.

Delhi Police check vehicles near the Red Fort area where the recent blast took place, in New Delhi on Wednesday. (ANI Photo/Atul Kumar Yadav) (Atul Kumar Yadav)

Amir was detained in Kashmir on Tuesday by Jammu and Kashmir police, along with his brother Umer Rashid Mir, a power development employee; and Sonu was arrested two hours after the explosion in front of Red Fort killed at least 10 people and injured dozens on Monday. Sonu works at a car dealership in Faridabad.

An investigator said, “These two people were with Dr Umar on October 29 and handed the i20 car to him. Amir was held by police for helping the module with the car.”

The white Hyundai i20 was first spotted at a toll plaza in Haryana’s Mewat region around Sunday midnight and remained parked at a parking lot near Sunehri Masjid for over three hours before its lone occupant drove it for nearly 30 minutes to the blast site, Delhi Police officers assisting the National Investigation Agency said.

Police are probing four key questions that now dominate the investigation: why that location, whether the blast was planned or accidental, if the detonator was hidden in the car’s bonnet, and who exactly was inside the vehicle.