The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) team, probing the car blast near Delhi's Red Fort, has reportedly recovered two live cartridges and samples of two different types of explosives from the site.
Both live cartridges were found directly from the site and have been sent for detailed forensic analysis.
The team has also recovered possible traces of ammonium nitrate and another unidentified explosive substance, the nature of which will be confirmed after laboratory testing.
The final report is expected in a few days, which will give clarity on the nature of the explosion that claimed 12 lives on Monday evening.
VIDEO | Delhi blast: Forensic team continues investigation at Lajpat Rai market and area near the car blast site which occurred yesterday near Red Fort.#delhicarblast
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 11, 2025
(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/OWOZuHL7Lo
According to some media reports, the investigators claim that the scale of damage and casualties points towards the use of military-grade explosives like Pentaerythritol tetranitrate or PETN.
PETN is one of the most powerful explosives usually preferred by terrorists because its colourless crystals are hard to detect.
“PETN is quite stable and detonates either by heat or a shock wave,” an officer told the Times of India newspaper, adding that a car can be destroyed in around 100 grams.
PETN doesn’t require pellets or shrapnel to act as an explosive, and the material itself is enough to cause immense damage through detonation, he added.
Meanwhile, initial investigation also suggested that the blast may have been "accidentally triggered" while the hastily assembled explosive device was being transported.
VIDEO | Delhi: Forensic team conducting probe at the site of the blast. A high-intensity explosion ripped through a slow-moving car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening, killing at least nine people and gutting several vehicles.#DelhiBlast… pic.twitter.com/BBBbcAQbqV
— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) November 11, 2025
Sources said that the explosion was triggered in panic and desperation after raids by the security agencies across multiple locations in Delhi-NCR and Pulwama in Jammu and Kashmir to nab suspects believed to be part of the Faridabad terror module.
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On Monday, just hours before the explosion, 360 kg of ammonium nitrate was recovered from Faridabad during an investigation when Dr Muzammil Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed, both connected to the Al Falah university were arrested.
"The suspect was likely spooked after the raid in Faridabad which forced him to relocate hastily, increasing the chance of a mishap. The incident appears to have shifted from a suspected suicide attack to an unintended explosion during transport," a senior police officer told PTI news agency.
However, a suicide attack angle has not been completely ruled out.
The investigators believe that the effect of the blast was limited as the improvised explosive device (IED) was not assembled properly.
The bomb was premature and not fully developed, the officer said.
