The powerful car blast outside Red Fort Metro Station on Monday evening comes not long after the country's anti-terrorism units working round the clock to make multiple arrests and seizures of weapons and explosives. Suspects from across the country including Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana were picked up by sleuthes who were following multiple leads.
While it is yet to be officially confirmed that the blast that claimed at least eight lives in the national capital was an act of terror, India's security agencies were on their toes in these past days, the raids and arrests confirm.
Here are ten developments that was reported from different parts of the country in the past two days:
Around 360 kg of explosives and weapons were seized from a rented house in Faridabad's Dhauj on Sunday. Earlier today, a woman doctor from Lucknow was arrested over her alleged involvement with a terror module spread across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. The police had recovered an AK Krinkov rifle with three magazines, a pistol with live rounds, two empty cartridges, and two additional magazines from a Haryana-registered Swift Dzire car belonging to Dr Shaheen Shahid.
The car seized from Faridabad was in the possession of Dr Muzammil Shakil, 35, a physician residing in Koil, Pulwama, who was arrested earlier for storing explosives.
Earlier, the investigators searched several premises linked to Dr Muzammil and recovered about 14 bags of ammonium nitrate, 84 live cartridges, one AK-47 rifle, timers, and 5 litres of chemical solution. The explosives reportedly reached him around 10 days ago.
The module was busted after Kashmir-based Dr Adeel Ahmad Rather from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh, was arrested for allegedly putting up posters supporting Jaish-e-Mohammed in Srinagar. Officials also said that they had already uncovered an AK-47 rifle and ammunition from a locker belonging to Dr Adeel at the Government Medical College in Anantnag.
Dr Adeel's interrogation revealed that a network of doctors had been radicalising recruits since 2021.
The Gujarat Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) on Sunday arrested three alleged terrorists linked with ISIS from Gandhinagar and Banaskantha. Two of them were native to Uttar Pradesh while the third belonged to Telangana's Hyderabad.
Three pistols and 30 cartridges were seized from the trio along with lethal Ricin. The arrested individuals were also in contact with foreign operatives and were communicating with one Abu Khadija through Telegram.
The three arrested men were identified as Dr Ahmed Syed Zeelani, Mohammad Suhail Mohammad Suleman, and Azad Suleman Saifi. Dr Ahmed Syed, the leader of the module, was practising as a physician after obtaining his medical degree from China.
The ATS reportedly found out that they were conspiring to carry out terrorist attacks across the country from Adalaj in Gandhinagar. The trio were being watched by the Gujarat ATS for some time now based on specific intel.
It has been not ruled out that the toxic substance was to be used to carry out a chemical attack targeting civilians. The court has approved police remand of the accused Syed till November 17.