Red Fort blast: Cops track down vehicles parked near exploded car; quiz drivers, owners

Red Fort blast: In a bid to piece together the precise sequence of events before the blast near Red Fort, the investigators have prepared a detailed list of each vehicle that entered the nearby parking area where the exploded car was stationed for three hours, an official said on Saturday.

They are tracking down the registration numbers of these vehicles and questioning their drivers and owners if they have noticed the Haryana-registered Hyundai i20 involved in the explosion.

The Delhi Police Special Cell has also registered a separate FIR in the case under sections pertaining to criminal conspiracy to probe the deeper conspiracy behind the blast. The earlier FIR under sections under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act was transferred to the National Investigation Agency.

Sources said several vehicles were stationed nearby when Dr Umar Nabi, who was behind the wheels of the exploded car, stationed it in the parking lot on Monday.

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“Every driver who was present there around that time is being traced to determine whether they saw the HR-26 car, how many people were inside it, and whether anyone else was accompanying Umar,” a source said.

Investigators show Umar’s photograph to the drivers in a bid to verify whether he was alone in the car or if anyone else have entered or exited the vehicle during the three hours he remained inside the parking area, an official said.

The objective is to reconstruct precisely what happened during those three hours and to verify if the explosive device was planted inside the car at the parking lot.

Parallelly, the agencies are probing whether the arrested doctor, Dr Muzammil Ganaie, had regular contact with a group of doctors associated with Al Falah University in Haryana’s Faridabad district.

According to sources, as many as 15 doctors associated with the university and were known to be in touch with Dr Muzammil are currently untraceable.

“Call detail records showed multiple conversations between Dr Muzammil and several doctors. When the agencies attempted to contact them, their phones were found switched off. A team sent to Al Falah University for questioning discovered most of them missing,” a source said.

Investigations are underway to determine whether these missing individuals have any role in the planning or logistics of the alleged terror plot.

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On November 10, agencies busted a “white collar terror module” spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh; seized 2,900 kilograms of explosives, and arrested eight people, including three doctors. Hours later, a high-intensity explosion ripped through a slow-moving car near Delhi’s Red Fort metro station, killing 13 people and injuring several others.