In a significant breakthrough in the Delhi blast investigation, sources have disclosed that Umar Mohammed, also known as Umar un-Nabi—the individual who detonated the car bomb near the historic Red Fort—assembled the explosive device inside his vehicle while parked in a public parking area adjacent to the monument.
A major mystery for investigators while reconstructing Umar’s movements prior to the explosion was the three-hour window he spent in the parking lot near Sunehri Masjid. CCTV footage captured him entering the parking at 3:19 pm and exiting at 6:28 pm, with the blast occurring shortly thereafter, around 6:52 pm.
Earlier phases of the probe had established that during this entire period, Umar never once stepped out of his car.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, it has now emerged that after entering Delhi that morning, Umar remained in constant contact with his handlers. Investigators believe the primary topic of these communications was finalising the target location. Umar first drove through Mayur Vihar and Connaught Place before proceeding to Old Delhi. Ultimately, the parking area near the Red Fort was selected, in part because of the monument’s high symbolic value.
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However, neither Umar nor his handlers had accounted for the fact that it was a Monday, when the Red Fort is closed to the public. As a result, the parking lot was almost deserted. This forced them to abandon the original plan of detonating the device inside the parking area itself. Instead, Umar and his handlers settled on triggering the explosion on the busy Netaji Subhash Marg, the road that runs alongside the Red Fort on one side and Chandni Chowk on the other.
Investigators now state that Umar utilised those crucial three hours inside the parked car to assemble the explosive device. Immediately after completing the assembly, he drove out of the parking lot and proceeded onto the road, where he detonated the bomb minutes later. The blast killed 13 people and injured 20 others.
Previous findings of the investigation had already revealed that Umar went into a state of panic after his two associates—Muzammil and Shaheen, both medical doctors—were arrested in connection with the seizure of 2,900 kg of explosives in Faridabad. Fearing that his own arrest was imminent, Umar hastily finalised a plan and drove the explosives-laden vehicle into the national capital to carry out the attack before the police could close in on him.
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