Red Fort car blast: The operation to hunt down every member of the ‘white collar’ terror module, responsible for the Red Fort car blast, has proven successful as the security forces have detained a key figure — Maulvi Ishtiyaq. 

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday detained Maulvi, a preacher from Mewat in Haryana. With this, a total of nine persons have been held in connection with the ‘white collar’ terror module operating from a university in Faridabad, officials said.

He has now been taken to Srinagar for further questioning.

Who is Maulvi Ishtiyaq?

The preacher is the ninth person to be detained by the police in the case after the forces carried out an interstate raids on November 10 across Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. All to dismantle the ‘white-collar’ terror network of banned Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind.

According to officials, Ishtiyaq has been staying in a rented house within the Al Falah university complex in Faridabad, the same place from where the cops earlier recovered more than 2,500 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur. It is likely that Ishtiyaq will be placed under arrest.

They said the explosives were stored at the Maulvi’s rented residence by Dr Muzammil Ganaie alias Musaib and Dr Umar Nabi. The car that exploded was being driven by Nabi, who is said to have exploded the material in panic near Red Fort metro station gate no 1, killing 13 people.

CCTV captures moment of explosion

The cops are scanning through all the CCTV footage, tracking the car and Dr. Nabi to find out slightest possible link to anyone else. One of the CCTV footage captured the exact moment of the powerful explosion near Red Fort. It was from a a surveillance camera installed at the Red Fort crossing, which showed busy traffic movements before a sudden rapid fireball engulfed the screen.

The blast took place around 6.50 pm on Monday, and was followed a cloud of smoke leading to chaos and panic as people run for cover.

The CCTV recording has corroborated the time of the explosion that investigators established earlier.

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