Government and police sources have spoken in multiple voices on Monday’s blast near the Red Fort that killed at least 12 people, with some pointing to a Pulwama-style plot on Delhi while others appearing to contest the theory of a pre-planned terror attack by suggesting the explosion was the result of panic.
Sources in the security establishment this newspaper spoke to said a preliminary probe had revealed possible terror links involving a “white-collar” module of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) that had planned Pulwama-like attacks in Delhi. The possibility of the lone occupant of the car being a suicide bomber is also being investigated, they said.
All through, the government has not made any comment on the nature of the attack, although the National Investigation Agency (NIA), which exclusively probes terror cases, has taken over the inquiry on the orders of the home ministry and the stringent anti-terror law UAPA has been invoked in the FIR.
Late on Tuesday night, government sources said the car explosion was triggered by panic, claiming that investigators had “confirmed” it was not a suicide mission. “The suspect’s IED was incomplete and improperly assembled, which limited the impact. No crater formation and absence of projectiles indicate the device was not configured for maximum damage,” a source said, adding that the device “accidentally detonated” while it was being relocated or being taken for detonation.
A security official attached to the Union home ministry, however, told this newspaper: “Forensic evidence and intelligence inputs have pointed to possible terror links involving the JeM. The terror module was planning Pulwama-like attacks in Delhi and other parts of the country.”
The blast, he said, was allegedly orchestrated by UN-designated global terrorist and JeM chief Maulana Masood Azhar. “Initial findings revealed that the JeM apparently involved a network of radicalised doctors to plan Pulwama-style suicide attacks using a vehicle-borne IED in the heart of the capital. These radicalised doctors’ job was to make bombs and assist others in carrying out the attack,” he said.
He, however, declined to comment on how such a large amount of explosives and bomb-making materials made their way from Haryana to Delhi despite the huge police presence at the border and whether the blast could be the result of an intelligence failure.
On February 14, 2019, 40 CRPF jawans were killed on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in Kashmir’s Pulwama after a JeM suicide bomber rammed his explosives-filled car into a convoy bus of the paramilitary force.
Sources in the Delhi police said the “white-collar” module had been activated after Operation Sindoor.
Terror attack?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in Bhutan, on Tuesday vowed to punish the “conspirators” behind the blast but stopped short of naming any suspects or labelling the explosion a terror attack.
After the Pahalgam attack on April 22, the government had announced that any future act of terror in India would be considered an “act of war” against the country and would be responded to accordingly.
A former CBI director told The Telegraph it was surprising that the government had not officially called the Delhi blast a terror attack even though the case had been registered under the anti-terror law.
“The preliminary probe clearly suggests it was a terror attack. This government, which loses no time in blaming Islamabad after any terror attack, is now maintaining a studied silence and has not yet officially labelled it a terror attack. It could be because people will demand retaliation, considering the government has reiterated that Operation Sindoor is still not over,” he said.
The Pahalgam attack had killed 26 civilians and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war. New Delhi had blamed that attack on Islamabad, which denied the charge, leading to the worst military conflict between the two countries in decades before they agreed to a ceasefire after four days.
Sources said the Delhi police, Jammu and Kashmir police, NIA, National Security Guard, Intelligence Bureau, Uttar Pradesh ATS, Haryana police, the Gujarat police and forensic teams were jointly probing the white-collar terror module.
Union home minister Amit Shah said the perpetrators of the Delhi blast would face “the wrath of the agencies”.
“Chaired review meetings on the Delhi car blast with the senior officials. Instructed them to hunt down each and every culprit behind this incident. Everyone involved in this act will face the full wrath of our agencies,” Shah posted on X.
Defence minister Rajnath Singh said agencies were carrying out a swift and thorough investigation, and the findings would be made public soon.
Probe findings
The home ministry sources this newspaper spoke to suggested that the explosion could have been a fidayeen attack.
The lone occupant of the car, Dr Umar Mohammed Nabi, is presumed to have died in the blast. Preliminary forensic analysis suggests the ammonium nitrate fuel oil bomb was detonated manually near the Red Fort, the sources said.
The sources said Umar and three other doctors — Adeel Ahmad Rather, Muzammil Ahmad Ganai and Shaheen Sayeed — were part of the white-collar terror ecosystem, involving radicalised professionals and students in contact with foreign handlers operating from Pakistan and other countries. They coordinated through encrypted channels and charitable fronts to move funds, arms and explosives.
“Several such suspects are under the scanner and some of them were detained from Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir,” said an NIA official.
Early findings suggested that Umar had intended to carry out an explosion but decided on a fidayeen-style operation, apparently to maximise the number of casualties, as soon as he learned that the Faridabad module had been busted, the official said.
Adeel, Muzammil and Shaheen are under arrest and are being interrogated.
The sources said Muzammil was in regular touch with handlers in Kashmir and awaiting details about the target. The conspiracy, the sources said, was hatched in Pakistan.
The terror module had several doctors and they were linked to the JeM and the Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind. “It seems some terrorists of the Jaish terror module infiltrated India post-Operation Sindoor and were funding the new white-collar module with the help of local militants in Kashmir,” a source said.
The blast came hours after security agencies recovered nearly 3,000kg of explosives from two rented houses of Muzammil in Faridabad.
Sources said Umar, who was driving the car, reportedly panicked and triggered the blast after investigators seized the explosives used in the attack. The initial investigation indicated that the car had changed hands multiple times.
“Umar used ammonium nitrate fuel oil to carry out the attack. Apparently, he placed a detonator in the car and carried out the attack in a crowded area near Red Fort,” an officer said.
Agencies are closely monitoring social media activities and have begun extensive technical analysis of communication records. Data from all mobile phones that were active in the vicinity of the Red Fort complex at the time of the explosion are being examined.
Officials said the data could help identify the mobile numbers connected to the blast, revealing communication between suspects and possible accomplices. The dump data from the Red Fort parking area and surrounding zones have been obtained, an officer said.