New Delhi: Investigating agencies have found that over 2 kg of ammonium nitrate was used in the blast near Delhi’s Red Fort earlier this week, sources said on Saturday.
According to officials familiar with the probe, Dr Umar Nabi, the man driving the car that exploded on November 10, killing 13 people, was highly skilled in assembling improvised explosives.
Forensic teams have collected more than 52 samples so far and preliminary findings suggest that Umar may have combined ammonium nitrate with petroleum products and a detonating material to build the device. Experts have also determined that this mixture can be put together within 5 to 10 minutes. This has prompted investigators to question why Umar spent more than three hours inside a nearby parking facility before the explosion took place.
CCTV records show he entered the parking lot at 3:19 pm and left at 6:28 pm, roughly half an hour before his Hyundai i20 halted at a traffic signal near Red Fort Metro Station and blew up, killing nine people, injuring over 20 and damaging multiple vehicles in the crowded stretch.
Sources added that Umar, a doctor associated with Al Falah University in Faridabad, initially intended to trigger the blast near the Red Fort parking area which is a busy tourist zone with a popular marketplace. However, after the arrest of his associates and the seizure of explosives in Faridabad, he reportedly “panicked”. He also seemed unaware that the Red Fort remains closed on Mondays. When he reached the parking area, he found no crowd.
After waiting for over three hours, he moved out onto Netaji Subhash Marg, which runs between the Red Fort and Chandni Chowk, and detonated the explosive-laden car at the traffic signal.