New Delhi: A day after the powerful explosion near Red Fort Metro Station killed at least 13 people and injured several others, the Centre has handed over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
Following a second security review meeting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that everyone involved in the blast “will face the full wrath of our agencies.” The Red Fort has been temporarily shut for security reasons, and defence forces across India are on high alert. President Droupadi Murmu, currently in Angola, spoke with Shah over the phone to enquire about the situation.
Officials believe the attack was carried out by the same “transnational and interstate” module that police had busted in Faridabad a day earlier. In the days before the blast, Jammu and Kashmir Police had arrested two doctors from Haryana’s Faridabad and Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur for alleged links to terror groups Jaish-e-Mohammad and Ansar Ghazwatul Hind (AGH).
Investigators are now focusing on identifying Umar Nabi, suspected to be the driver of the Hyundai i20 that exploded. DNA samples of Nabi’s mother are being collected from Pulwama and will be matched with the unidentified remains found at Delhi’s Lok Nayak Hospital.
According to local sources, Nabi hails from Koil village in Pulwama — the same village as Dr. Muzammil Ahmad Ganai, who was recently arrested in Faridabad for his alleged role in the terror module. Police had earlier recovered 358 kg of suspected ammonium nitrate from Ganai’s rented house in Dhauj, strengthening the link between the Faridabad network and the Delhi blast.
