Delhi Red Fort blast: Probe focuses on Haryana-registered Hyundai i20; effort on to trace latest owner

Hours after the high-intensity blast that rocked the Gate 1 of the Red Fort metro station in Chandni Chowk, Delhi police revealed that the Hyundai i20 car inside which the blast occurred is registered in Haryana.

The car was previously registered in the name of one Mohammad Salman from Gurugram who sold the vehicle to one Devender in Delhi's Okhla around one-and-a-half years ago, said reports. Devender was also questioned by police to trace the chain of ownership.

A report by CNN News 18 claimed that the car was later sold to one Nadeem Khan from whom it was purchased by one Tariq from Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

Forensic probe has suggested that the explosion might not have been caused by IED as no shrapnel has been recovered nor were any craters found at the blast site.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said it is difficult to say what caused the blast. “Until the samples recovered from the blast site are analysed by forensics and NSG, we can't say anything. But we are not ruling out anything and investigating all angles,” he added.

Interestingly, the blast comes hours after another Haryana-registered Swift Dzire was seized from Faridabad after Jammu and Kashmir police recovered one AK Krinkov rifle with three magazines, a pistol with live rounds, two empty cartridges, and two additional magazines from the vehicle. The car belonged to Dr Shaheen Shahid, a resident of Lal Bagh, Lucknow.

The Swift Dzire seized from Faridabad was in possession of Dr Muzammil Shakil, 35, who hails from Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir Police also recovered 14 bags of ammonium nitrate, 84 live cartridges, one AK-47 rifle, timers, and 5 litres of chemical solution from Dr Muzammil's rented home in Faridabad.