Hours after the blast near Red Fort left nine people dead, the Delhi Police and security agencies are probing if ammonium nitrate, fuel oil and detonators led to the explosion in the car, it is learnt.
According to the initial findings, a police officer said, exhibits of the damaged vehicles, including the i20 car, have been picked up from the spot and sent for forensic examinations.
The Delhi Police have registered a case under sections 16, 18 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Explosives Act at Kotwali Police Station in North Delhi.
The investigation has been transferred from the North district police to the Special Cell. “The Special Cell of the Delhi Police will take over directing the inquiry, coordinating with central agencies as required. The officer, Special CP (Special Cell) Anil Shukla, assigned to head the investigation is the same official who led the investigation team in the National Investigation Agency (NIA) probe into the Pulwama terror attack in 2019, a decision that authorities say reflects the need for experienced leadership in high-stakes cases,” a senior police officer said.
The NIA is now set to take over the probe, it is learnt.
Police said they are probing links between the arrests of two Jammu and Kashmir doctors by the J&K Police and the man driving the i20 car.
In a major security operation conducted over the past two weeks, J&K Police had said they arrested two doctors — Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganai from Pulwama and Dr Adeel Majeed Rather from Qazigund — in Haryana and Uttar Pradesh who were allegedly part of an “interstate and transnational terror module” linked to the terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH).
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The police also claimed they had recovered 350 kg of explosives, suspected to be ammonium nitrate, from Ganai’s rented house in Faridabad’s Dhauj.
Police have recovered CCTV footage and it is suspected that the car driver was alone during the blast. However, on Monday, police sources said it is suspected three people were in the car.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Raja Banthia said that the case has been registered and multiple CCTV cameras are being scanned all around the area. “Teams from the NSG, Delhi Police, and FSL are present at the spot and are investigating the entire crime scene. The investigation is ongoing,” he said.
“There are body parts in the car [in which the blast took place]. The FSL team is collecting them, so let’s see how it connects. We are trying to ascertain the exact sequence of events,” he added.
