Hunt Down Each Every Culprit Of The Attack, Says HM Amit Shah At Top Security Review Meets
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday vowed that the “conspirators” behind the car explosion in Delhi “won’t be spared and will be brought to justice,” while police officials confirmed that the death toll in the Monday’s tragedy has gone up to 13.
The elite National Investigating Agency (NIA) took over the investigations as multiple investigating agencies probing the case, cracked down on suspects responsible for the blast.
“Our agencies will get to the bottom of this conspiracy. The conspirators behind this will not be spared. All those responsible will be brought to justice…I was in touch with all the agencies investigating this incident throughout last night,” the Prime Minister said while speaking in Thimphu where he arrived on a two-day State visit to Bhutan.
Home Minister Amit Shah chaired a series of high level security review meetings with senior officials of security agencies and his Ministry and instructed them to ‘’hunt down’’ each and every culprit behind the incident.
“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,” the Home Minister said on X.
The first meeting was attended by the union Home Secretary, Director Intelligence Bureau, Director General of the National Investigation Agency, and Commissioner of Police of Delhi. The Director General of Jammu and Kashmir joined the meeting via video conference. The second meeting was attended by union Home Secretary, Director, Intelligence Bureau, Director General of the National Security Guards (NSG), Director General, National Investigation Agency (NIA), Director Forensic Science Services, Chief Director of Forensic Science Laboratory, Delhi and other senior officials.
Investigations indicate that an i20 car, parked near the Red Fort parking area three hours before the blast, is under suspicion.” CCTV footage shows the vehicle entering the parking lot at 3:19 pm and leaving at 6:48 pm, during a period when the area was crowded. It was a loud explosion that took place in a moving vehicle.
Fresh CCTV footage has surfaced in connection with the car blast near Delhi’s Red Fort Metro Station, showing the Haryana-registered Hyundai i20, the same vehicle that later exploded, at a pollution-check centre in Faridabad on October 29 at around 4:20 p.m., just days before the blast.
According to investigators, the footage captured three individuals inside the car while a pollution certificate was being issued. The location is reportedly near a petrol pump along the Delhi-Mumbai-Vadodara Expressway service lane in Faridabad. Sources said that among those in the car was a man with a long beard, identified as Tariq, in whose name the vehicle had been purchased by Dr. Mohammad Umar Nabi.
Police believe Dr. Umar Nabi, a resident of Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir, was driving the vehicle at the time of the explosion and may have detonated the explosives himself.
The car, bearing registration number HR 26-CE 7674, is registered under the name of Mohammad Salman at the Gurugram RTO. Delhi Police have detained Salman, who claimed he sold the vehicle about 18 months ago. His wife, Farah’s mobile phone has been seized for forensic examination.
Investigators traced Salman’s previous residence in Gurugram’s Shanti Nagar through the registration address, where landlord Dinesh revealed that Salman had moved out five years ago. Police detained Dinesh for questioning before locating Salman at a housing society in Sohna. Salman, his brother Javed, and Dinesh are currently under interrogation.
Farah, Salman’s wife, told police that the car had been exchanged through a dealership named “Symphony Motors” and that they had no knowledge of who subsequently bought it. Investigators are now probing the chain of ownership and its possible links to the Red Fort blast.
Police are reviewing additional footage to identify individuals who parked, accessed and later retrieved the car. Efforts are underway to trace the vehicle’s entire route from its origin before reaching the Red Fort to its movements immediately prior to the explosion.
Sources in the Delhi Police Special Cell said “There is an indication that the car blast could be linked to a Faridabad terror module which was busted on the night of November 9. The driver of the i20 car, seen in a video captured shortly before the explosion, wearing a mask, is suspected to be Doctor Mohammed Umar. Dr Umar is under suspicion and is part of the probe. He is absconding.”
According to the Delhi Police Special Cell, “There is suspicion that Doctor Umar was inside the i20 car at the time of the incident. However, a DNA test on the deceased will be conducted to confirm whether it was indeed Umar.”
The investigation has revealed chain of ownership of the car, which was initially sold by a man named Salman to another individual, Devender, in March 2025. The car then changed hands from Devender to a person named Aamir on October 29. It was subsequently passed on to Dr. Umar Mohammad, with a man named Tariq also being privy to this exchange. Both Aamir and Tariq are currently being questioned by the Delhi Police team as the probe continues.
A significant part of the probe has focused on tracing the movements of the suspects through the city’s CCTV network. Nearly 200 police personnel examined footage from multiple routes, including from the Badarpur Border to the Sunehri Masjid near Red Fort, and from Outer Ring Road to Kashmere Gate. This digital dragnet has led investigators to question approximately thirteen individuals who have come under suspicion.
Investigators are also working to identify other suspects believed to have been in the car at the moment of the blast. A team of investigators went to Haryana yesterday to apprehend the owner of the car.
Although no one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, investigators are suspecting involvement Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed. Delhi Police has said in its First Information Report (FIR) that “this is a bomb blast.” A copy of the FIR was accessed by UNI.
According to the FIR, “There was a loud explosion. The wall of the Chowki collapsed due to the explosion. The police staff rushed to the site and witnessed cars in which fire had broken out, while the injured were lying on the road. All the injured were taken to a hospital. This indeed seems to be a bomb blast.”
The FIR has been lodged at the Kotwali Police Station of North District under sections of The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), 1967, including Section 16 (punishment for terrorist acts) and Section 18 (punishment for conspiracy).
A senior police official confirmed “A case has been filed under Sections 16 and 18 of the UAPA, along with applicable sections of the Explosives Act and BNS.’’ Charges have also been invoked under the Explosive Substances Act, specifically Section 3 for causing an explosion likely to endanger life and Section 4 for the attempt to cause an explosion.
