Delhi’s Red Fort blast explained: Who was in the car, how the bomb worked, and what comes next

Blast near Red Fort in Delhi

NEW DELHI: A Hyundai i20 exploded near the Red Fort around 6:52pm on Monday, killing at least 12 people. Investigators are treating the incident as a terrorist strike under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and tracing it to a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) network that allegedly involved radicalised young doctors and cross-border handlers. Much of what we know so far comes from on-ground reporting by The Times of India journalists.

Drawing on CCTV trails reviewed by probe teams and reported by TOI’s Rajshekhar Jha and Abhay, the car’s journey began early Monday. The i20 was first seen outside a Faridabad hospital around 7:30am. By 8:04am, it crossed Badarpur into Delhi; minutes later, it appeared on cameras near Okhla Industrial Area, where the driver-identified by investigators as Dr Umar Un Nabi-was masked while stopping at a fuel station.

The car meandered through central Delhi in the afternoon. Around 2:30pm, it circled the inner ring of Connaught Place, a detail that suggests the driver was scoping footfall and traffic patterns. Past 3:15pm, the i20 parked at the Sunehri Masjid lot near Chandni Chowk and remained there for roughly three hours. Investigators told TOI that CCTV shows the driver stayed inside without stepping out from 3:19pm to 6:25pm. Minutes before the explosion, the vehicle rolled towards the Chandni Chowk–Red Fort corridor, took a U-turn near the monument, and halted by Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro station on Subhash Marg. The blast followed at 6:52pm, killing 12 and leaving several others injured. Authorities are reviewing over a thousand cameras along the route to rule out whether anyone else entered or exited the car at any point. One earlier CCTV clip from Faridabad, also flagged by investigators, shows the same i20 (with a Haryana registration) at a petrol pump for a pollution check days before the blast-this time with three occupants visible.

Forensic teams and the NSG’s explosives unit are yet to file their final report, but the scale of damage and the casualty count point to high-grade explosives. Among the substances being examined are PETN, Semtex, RDX, and an ammonium nitrate–fuel oil mix-materials that can be used in improvised devices but are also familiar in industrial contexts.

Technicians have collected about 42 samples-including tyres, chassis components, the car’s CNG cylinder, bonnet fragments, residue, and powder traces-to determine the exact composition and the triggering mechanism. As one officer told TOI, “PETN is quite stable and detonated either by heat or a shock wave. A car can be destroyed in around 100 grams. Most importantly, neither PETN nor semtex inherently require pellets or shrapnel to act as an explosive and the material itself is enough to cause immense damage through detonation.” Another official noted that an ammonium nitrate fuel oil charge creates a supersonic shock wave, unleashing energy extremely quickly.

Investigators believe a proper detonation system-potentially a watch-based timer with button batteries-was used. Yet competing hypotheses remain: some officers argue the device’s build appeared “loosely assembled” and lacked shrapnel, which they interpret as a hurried or partially finished design; others say the route, timing, and parking pattern reflect deliberate planning. “More corroborative evidence is needed to arrive at a conclusion. The probe is at an early stage,” one officer cautioned to TOI.Two live cartridges were also recovered from the site, police sources told TOI.

Identity of the driver. Delhi Police believe the man in the car was Dr Umar Un Nabi, 29, a Pulwama resident and former topper at Government Medical College, Srinagar, who later worked at GMC Anantnag before moving to teach at Al-Falah University in Faridabad. Only an arm-thought to be his-was recovered near the wreck. A definitive identification awaits DNA confirmation; officers took his mother’s sample, TOI’s Naseer Ganai reported from Pulwama. A CCTV clip reportedly shows him sitting alone in the i20 at one of the stops.

Investigators tie the blast to a Jaish-e-Mohammed module spread across J&K, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, with handlers in Türkiye and Afghanistan’s Nangarhar allegedly guiding parts of the plot. The module’s standout feature, as TOI’s Nikhil Sharma and Bagish Jha chronicled, is the cluster of young doctors associated with Al-Falah University who were teaching MBBS while allegedly moonlighting in a terror network. Among those under arrest or scrutiny:

Family voices from Pulwama. At Umar’s home in Koil village, relatives recounted that police arrived, seized phones, and took two family members for questioning. His sister-in-law Muzamila Akhtar said the last call with Umar was on Friday: “He told me he will be coming home after three days, and we were all happy”. She added: “He was our only hope,” and, “His father was a teacher who later lost his senses… I can’t believe Umar could be involved in such a thing.”Also read: Was Red Fort attack planned for January 26? What Faridabad doctor’s phone revealedIn another Koil neighborhood, Shakeel Ahmad, father of Muzammil, told TOI: “They told us he had been brought from Faridabad for probe. We were shocked,” adding, “He has been there for two years. He would call us regularly.” A faculty member at Al-Falah voiced the campus’s distress to TOI: “We never imagined something like this could happen here. The university always prided itself on academic excellence and inclusivity. This has shaken us to the core.”

Delhi Police’s FIR under UAPA Sections 16 and 18 (terror act and conspiracy) aligns with an initial intelligence assessment: the JeM module allegedly sought to avenge damage to the group’s Bahawalpur headquarters inflicted during Operation Sindoor.Why the explosion unfolded on Monday specifically is unsettled. One theory suggests Umar panicked after the arrest of Dr Muzammil-the Faridabad lynchpin-and set off in the loaded car to avoid being picked up, possibly attempting to dump the explosives or hide the vehicle. The competing view is that the timing, location, and parking point to “proper planning”, not a mishap. As a senior officer put it to TOI, “More corroborative evidence is needed to arrive at a conclusion. The probe is at an early stage.”Separately, TOI’s Bharti Jain cited security sources who argued the device was loosely assembled and the vehicle was not driven into a dense crowd, both factors that may indicate an unintended or premature detonation. One official told TOI that the crackdown that yielded nearly 3,000 kg of explosives likely forced the suspect’s hand. Another summarised the state’s view of the busts: “This is a success of our intelligence agencies, security apparatus and law enforcement officers.”

Ashok Kumar (34), a DTC driver, and Lokesh Agarwal (52) met briefly after months apart; by dawn, both were back in Amroha, wrapped in white. Mohsin (32), an e-rickshaw driver, worked long hours to keep two children in school; his vehicle was crushed in the debris. Noman Ansari (22) had come from Shamli to buy cosmetics for his shop; his brother lived, he did not.Dinesh Mishra (32), back from Diwali with his daughters in Shravasti, returned to work at a printing press-he never came home. Pankaj Sahni (22), a cabbie from Bihar, was idling at a signal when the i20 ahead exploded. Mohammad Jumman (35) was steering toward Shastri Park; his phone location froze on his brother’s screen and then never moved.And there was Amar Kataria (33), a Sriniwaspuri pharmacist who had just phoned his father about dinner plans. His family found his second phone in the rubble; later, they identified him with a tattoo. His father told TOI, “My grandson just turned three in Sept. My daughter-in-law Kriti is trying to hold herself together, but she doesn’t know how she will raise her son without his father.” The official toll is nine, TOI reported; additional body parts awaiting DNA matches could push the number up to 12.

TOI’s Bagish Jha tracked the i20’s paper trail. Bought new in 2014 by Dilip of Old Gurgaon, the car was sold in 2020 to Mohammad Salman, a glass-factory worker who registered it to a Shanti Nagar address. Salman later moved to Sohna and, during Ramzan this year, sold the car via an online marketplace. But the registration never changed, leaving his name on the records. From there the i20 went to a Delhi dealer, then on to Taufiq in Faridabad through an intermediary named Sonu. After the blast, police landed at the old Shanti Nagar address, then traced relatives and finally reached Salman in Global Heights. Salman showed digital proof of sale and was handed, along with his brother Javed, to Delhi Police for questioning. “We sold the car legally. We have nothing to do with this incident,” Salman’s wife told TOI. Sonu, the dealer who last transferred the vehicle to Taufiq, was picked up for questioning by Delhi Police’s Special Cell.

NIA steps in. The National Investigation Agency has taken over the case from Delhi Police, The FIR under UAPA Sections 16 and 18 cements the terror-attack framing. Delhi Police also recovered two live cartridges at the scene.

DNA and forensics. The identity of the deceased driver hinges on a DNA match with his mother. Final explosives forensics-from the 42 exhibits-is expected to clarify whether PETN, Semtex, RDX, or an ANFO variant was used, and how the detonator and timer were rigged.Network roll-up. Raids continue across J&K, Haryana, and UP. Faridabad Police mounted an 800-person combing operation around Al-Falah and nearby villages, temporarily detaining about 70 people for questioning and harvesting CCTV from neighborhoods where Muzammil rented rooms. The sweep also covers associates from the same regions as those already detained or arrested. Yashpal, a Faridabad Police spokesperson, told TOI: “The FIR had been registered in J&K. It was only then that Muzammil was arrested, and the recovery of explosives and weapons were made from Faridabad. No FIR in connection with this case has been registered in Faridabad so far.” The motive and the method. Investigators must still reconcile two narratives: a premeditated strike planned to maximize casualties near an evening crowd, or a rushed detonation triggered by the heat of ongoing raids and seizures that made continued storage and movement of explosives too risky. One officer underscored to TOI that “Whether this blast was premeditated or accidental is a matter of investigation,” while another insisted the larger dismantling of the module remains the more consequential story: “This is a success of our intelligence agencies, security apparatus and law enforcement officers.”(Information, timelines, field reporting and interviews in this article draw on the work of TOI journalists Rajshekhar Jha, Bharti Jain Naseer Ganai, Abhay, Nikhil Sharma and Bagish Jha.) Go to Source