Delhi Red Fort blast: On Monday, a blast near the Red Fort claimed the lives of at least nine people and left several others injured. The blast occurred at 6:52 pm in a “slow-moving” Hyundai i20 car that stopped at a traffic signal near Gate No. 1 of the Lal Quila metro station, one of the busiest routes in Old Delhi. It connects Delhi Gate to Kashmere Gate and is directly opposite the pedestrian path leading to Chandni Chowk. It is about 1.5 kilometres from Jama Masjid.
Following the incident, Delhi Police registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Explosives Act. Investigators have traced the car to a Pulwama resident, now identified as the suspect in the case.
Who is Delhi Red Fort blast suspect?
According to a report by The Indian Express, the vehicle was purchased by a 34-year-old Pulwama resident on October 29.
The Print further reported that the doctor is suspected to be connected to the same terror network as two other doctors arrested in Faridabad on Monday, hours before the explosion.
Officials quoted by PTI said eight individuals, including three doctors, were taken into custody and around 2,900 kg of explosives were recovered during the busting of a “white-collar” terror module linked to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, operating across Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh.
“He [Pulwama resident] is from the same terror module. He panicked after the arrests. He, along with his associates, placed a detonator and carried out this terror act,” The Print quoted an officer as saying.
Police in Gurugram, Haryana, arrested Mohd Salman, the original owner of the Hyundai i20. During questioning, he stated that he had sold the vehicle to someone else, NDTV reported. The cops then started working with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) to trace the current owner, ultimately linking it to the Pulwama-based suspect.
Red Fort blast timeline
According to a source quoted by The Indian Express, the CCTV footage shows a vehicle entering a parking lot near the Red Fort at 3:19 pm. It remained there for over three hours and was later seen exiting the lot at 6:48 pm, with the driver collecting what appeared to be a parking slip.
“CCTV footage shows that there was heavy traffic when the car left the parking lot,” a source said. Before the explosion, the car was reportedly spotted in Darya Ganj, Red Fort area, Kashmere Gate, and near Sunehri Masjid, sources told The Indian Express.
At 6:52, four minutes later, a blast occurred as the car stopped at the Subhash Marg traffic signal near the Red Fort, injuring some pedestrians and damaging some vehicles. Within 10 minutes, teams from the Delhi Crime Branch and Special Branch reached the location to begin their investigation. Firefighters were also at the spot within minutes.
Delhi Police Commissioner Satish Golcha had said that multiple people were inside the car, but CCTV footage accessed by The Indian Express appeared to show only one person in the driver’s seat. Investigators are now investigating whether others joined him later on.
“We are analysing footage from nearby roads and toll barriers to map the full movement of the car,” IE quoted a police official as saying.
Security agencies issued a high alert across Delhi-NCR soon after the explosion. The incident occurred just hours after authorities in Faridabad seized nearly 360 kg of suspected ammonium nitrate and a cache of arms from a Kashmiri doctor’s rented home, PTI reported.
According to a report by PTI, 20 injured individuals were rushed to LNJP hospital, including two women and 18 men. Twelve of them are residents of Delhi, while others are from Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. The youngest victim is a 21-year-old Shivam Jha from Usmanpur, Delhi.
Experts from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) collected evidence from the site and are analysing the material to determine the nature of the explosives used. “…The samples will be taken to the laboratory, and after that, only we can make any confirmation…Everything will be known after the examination…,” FSL Officer Mohamad Wahid told reporters.