Delhi blast: Police probe suspect's 3-hour stay at mosque before explosion

New Delhi: The man driving the car that exploded near the Red Fort, killing 12 people and injuring several others, had visited a mosque near the Ram Leela Maidan, a senior official said on Wednesday.

Dr Umar Nabi, an assistant professor at Al-Falah University and believed to have been behind the wheel of the car that went up in flames on Monday, had parked the vehicle at the Sunehri Masjid parking lot around 3.19 pm, the officer said.

Before that, Nabi had gone to a mosque on Asaf Ali Road, close to Ram Leela Maidan, where he allegedly stayed for nearly three hours and offered namaz.

"He stayed there for around three hours before leaving and heading towards the Red Fort. We are probing the matter from all angles, including a suspected fidayeen attack," a senior police officer told PTI.

Investigators are also examining what Umar did during his three-hour halt at the parking lot before he moved towards the Red Fort. "He was constantly tracking updates about those arrested in the Faridabad module. We are also trying to verify if he was communicating with his handlers using a signal phone," another officer said.

The officer added that forensic experts are analysing exhibits to detect fragments of a possible signal device that may have been used to stay in touch with handlers.

The Delhi Forensic Science Laboratory has collected over 40 samples from the blast site, including mangled remains of the vehicle, metal debris, and body parts.

A special team of experts has been constituted to examine the samples and identify the nature of explosives used, sources said.

Police sources added that agencies are also scanning CCTV footage from the mosque area and nearby streets to reconstruct Umar's movements before the explosion, as part of efforts to ascertain whether anyone else was involved in facilitating the attack.

Meanwhile, the Delhi Police has sounded an alert across all police stations, posts, and border checkpoints in the national capital to trace a red Ford EcoSport car suspected to be linked to the blast.

The alert was issued after the investigation revealed that the other suspects, already connected to the Hyundai i20 used in the explosion, were also in possession of another red car, the police source said.

The Delhi Police's FIR called the explosion "a bomb blast" as it invoked Sections pertaining to conspiracy and punishment for a terror attack under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, officials said.

Initially, it was claimed that three people were in the car during the blast. However, it is now clear that only Nabi, who was on the run after the busting of the terror module, was driving the i20 car when the blast took place, officials noted.

After leaving the parking, he proceeded on the Chhata Rail Chowk road near the Red Fort and then took a U-turn. The blast occurred a few metres before the Red Fort police post, according to officials privy to the probe.