Blast near Lal Qila metro station; terror angle not ruled out

A powerful blast, just a few metres away from Lal Qila metro station gate no. 4 on Monday evening, killed at least eight people on the spot, injured several others, and severely damaged more than ten cars. The explosion occurred around 7pm, ripping through a radius of nearly 20 metres, burning moving vehicles on the road and shattering windows of nearby shops and also the metro station.

Blood pooled on the road, parts of vehicles lay scattered, and shattered glass littered the stretch. The police sealed the area, as Delhi Police Special Cell, forensic teams, the National Investigation Agency (NIA), the National Security Guard (NSG) bomb disposal squads and investigative teams examined the site. A white Wagon R, one of the vehicles positioned just a few paces from the centre of the blast, was partially caved in from the front, with traces of flesh clinging to its broken windshield.

The blast occurred in a Hyundai i20, which was parked near the station, prompting authorities to rush seven fire tenders to the spot. At least 24 were injured in the blast. Delhi Police has detained the owner of the car, the Press Trust of India (PTI) reported, citing officials.

Manohar, a shopkeeper who was present when the blast happened, said, "There was a loud blast and everyone went helter-skelter. Later, we heard that a man's head had flown nearly 50 metres away, landing close to the gates of Gauri Shankar Mandir."

As it seems, the explosion might not have resulted from a cylinder blast. Vijay, another shopkeeper, said, "The blast wave was intense, breaking 10 mm thick glass panes of the metro station gate no 1, which shows that it is not some accidental blast. The nature of the wave indicates a powerful blast wave." However, an official on the ground suggested that the investigating teams have not been able to find the RDX smell yet, and there are no visible traces of splinters.

Bomb disposal squad of the NSG, consisting of seven to eight commandos, will be examining the blast residue to ascertain whether any high-end explosives were used. If traces of explosive material like ammonium nitrate are found, it will help establish a terrorist angle, and links to the Faridabad module too will be clear. The bomb disposal squad will also be checking the blast site for detonators and any bomb making material.

Moreover, the suspicion of a bigger terror plot began with a few Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) posters pasted on a wall in Srinagar. Three weeks later, the search operation ended with the discovery of about 2,900 kilograms of explosive chemicals in a doctor’s house over a thousand kilometres away in Faridabad, Haryana. This has led investigators to connect the dots and probe any suspected links to the Faridabad module. An investigator said that normally, the modus operandi of terror groups is to activate other modules if one of them gets busted.

The timing of the blast, occurring late evening on a smoggy evening in Delhi, with traffic at its peak, had investigators work late into the night. “The fact that there is smog in Delhi, the initial findings based on the fumes could not deliver clear results. Normally, during daytime, it is easier to decipher the chemical composition of the explosive material,” said an investigator.

Till such time the forensic analysis is clear, it would be premature to say there was explosive material used to cause a blast.

But red flags are emerging in the initial leads being found by investigators. The petrol/CNG car in which the blast took place is being traced to an original owner, Md Salman, who is learnt to have registered the vehicle in Gurugram, and then it was sold in Pulwama to one Tariq. The role of another owner is being explored as the car changed hands more than once, it is learnt. These are the initial leads as investigators try to piece together the findings in the blast probe.