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Was Delhi's Red Fort blast a terror attack? Probe now with NIA, here's what we know so far
Family members of Dr Umar Un Nabi, the man suspected to have been driving the car involved in the blast, have been called for DNA test to confirm if he died too
The probe into the November 10 blast near Delhi's Red Fort has been handed over the National Investigation Agency (NIA), officials said on Tuesday. This came after key clues pointed towards a possible terror plot behind the car explosion that killed 13 people.
A crucial clue so far is that the car belonged to a Kashmir-based doctor, who is allegedly linked to a terror module busted in Delhi's neighbouring city of Faridabad just days earlier.
Live | Follow latest updates on the Red Fort blast case
Delhi Police had already registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), which is usually invoked in activities threatening national security.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged that conspirators behind the blast would be brought to justice.
Also read | Red Fort blast: Three doctors, a rented car and an evening of mayhem
Missing Pulwama native central figure
Investigators have found that a doctor, identified as Dr Umar Un Nabi from Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, was in contact with two other doctors from J&K arrested recently in Faridabad, Haryana.
Umar belonged to Pulwama, as did Dr Muzammil Shakil arrested in the Faridabad terror module bust.
Umar has been missing since the Faridabad case arrests. The arrests in Faridabad were part of busting a terror module with massive seizure of explosives. Both doctors arrested in the Faridabad case are from Jammu and Kashmir.
Also read | Car in Red Fort blast traced to Kashmir-based doctor with terror module ties, linked to Faridabad raids
Was Umar driving the car, and died in blast too?
Umar Un Nabi was probably driving the white Hyundai i20 car when it exploded after slowing down near a red light, officers told HT on the condition of anonymity.
An officer said that the suspect, Umar Un Nabi, is likely to have executed the explosion “after his friends got arrested". He is missing since. That is one reason why theories of a “suicide attack” gained credence in the preliminary investigation.
Umar's family members, including his mother, have been called for DNA tests to confirm if he was among the dead. So far, six of the 13 bodies remain unidentified. “Yes, as per our initial probe, Umar was driving the car and is probably dead. We are checking with the doctors at the mortuary,” said an officer, as per an HT report.
Tracing the car’s ownership became the key that unlocked the Faridabad connection, police said, adding, “It was a long trail before we reached him (Umar).” The car was registered in the name of a man named Salman, who had sold it to a man named Devender. Both were detained, at which Devender said he had sold it to a man named Taariq. "While we were looking for Taariq, we found that the car was last with Umar,” said one of the investigating officers.
How Faridabad link was found
Police in Haryana, meanwhile, also identified Dr Umar Un Nabi as one of the key operatives connected to the recovery of nearly 2,900 kilograms of explosives and inflammable material from Faridabad’s Dhauj and Fatehpur Taga villages. They suspect that Umar transported the explosive material from a rented room in Faridabad and used it in Delhi.
Umar worked as a doctor at Al-Falah Medical College in Faridabad for the last three years. That's the same institution where Dr Muzammil Shakil, arrested in the Faridabad terror module case, worked too.
Another doctor arrested in the Faridabad case — Adeel Ahmad Rather, a former Senior Resident at Government Medical College, Anantnag, J&K — is believed to have played an active role in planning the Red Fort operation alongside Umar Un Nabi, officials told HT.
Police in Faridabad have been scanning CCTV camera footage from multiple areas to trace the movements of Umar Un Nabi and Shakil to determine whether they travelled together to Delhi to plant the ammonium nitrate.
“The network runs deep and is under active investigation. We are verifying how long Dr Umar Un Nabi had been employed in Faridabad and the extent of his involvement with the others,” Faridabad assistant police commissioner (crime) Varun Dahiya told HT.
Investigators said Umar and Shakil had rented two accommodations in Dhauj for ₹1,200 and ₹1,400 a month, paying two months’ security deposit each. Both worked together to stockpile explosives and coordinate movements, probe officials said.
Also read | Delhi 10/11 blast: How cops zeroed down on Pulwama doctor Umar Un Nabi, Faridabad link
Investigators are also looking into whether the Red Fort blast was triggered by a device in the car that may have gone off accidentally. The intensity and heat of the explosion suggested the use of ammonia gel or a similar high-intensity explosive, they said.
Action in J&K
Police in J&K also carried out raids and picked up six people, including three family members of Umar Un Nabi.
For the past five days, J&K Police have carried out raids on dozens of houses across Jammu and Kashmir as, the sources said, there were fears of a terror attack. “The raids were being carried out as a preventive measure,” the spokesman said.
(with inputs from Jignasa Sinha, Leena Dhankhar)
