Car Blast a terror incident, says Govt | Driver had Dec 6 attack plan
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday visited the LNJP Hospital in New Delhi to meet survivors of the devastating Red Fort blast, assuring that those behind the deadly conspiracy will be brought to justice. The Prime Minister, who had just returned from Bhutan, drove straight to the hospital where the injured are undergoing treatment.
Modi spent nearly 25 minutes at the hospital, interacting with the injured and reviewing their medical condition. “Went to LNJP Hospital and met those injured during the blast in Delhi. Praying for everyone’s quick recovery. Those behind the conspiracy will be brought to justice!” he said in a post on X after the visit.
“Went to LNJP Hospital and met those injured during the blast in Delhi. Praying for everyone’s quick recovery. Those behind the conspiracy will be brought to justice!” Modi said in a post on X.
Upon landing from Bhutan, the prime minister went straight to the hospital to meet those injured after the blast, officials said.
There was a heavy security deployment in and around the hospital where the injured are undergoing treatment.
He met and interacted with the injured and wished them a speedy recovery, officials said, adding that he was also briefed by officials and doctors at the hospital.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah visited the hospital to meet the survivors on Monday.
Hours after police busted the terror module with links to proscribed Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind, and arrested eight people, including three doctors, a high-intensity blast ripped through a slow-moving car outside Delhi’s Red Fort area, claiming the lives of 12 people.
Around 2,500 kilograms of ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur were seized after police busted the terror module, which spanned across Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
The police FIR describes the incident as a “bomb blast,” while forensic experts are now analysing whether the materials recovered from recent seizures match the chemical signature of the Red Fort explosion.
The forensic team has collected around 40 samples from the blast site, including cartridges, live ammunition, and residues of multiple explosive materials. Preliminary findings suggest that one of the samples could be ammonium nitrate, officials said.
Meanwhile, investigators continue to piece together evidence from the blast.
Later in the evening, the Government today termed the blast near the Red Fort as a “terrorist incident” even as it emerged during investigations that Dr Umar Nabi, who was driving the explosives-laden car, planned an attack here to coincide with the Babri Masjid demolition anniversary on December 6.
Officials involved in the investigations into the blast on Monday evening in which 12 people were killed and several injured said that Umar and another key suspect Dr Muzammil Ganai had met overground workers of the banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) during their trip to Turkiye in 2021.
They also said that an analysis of dump data retrieved from the mobile phone of Muzammil showed he had recced the Red Fort area multiple times in the first week of January.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the LNJP Hospital and met the survivors, and once again declared that the perpetrators will be brought to justice. He was in the hospital for nearly 25 minutes.
A meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Modi upon his return from Bhutan directed investigating agencies to deal with the case with “utmost urgency and professionalism” to bring the perpetrators and their sponsors to justice without delay.
The meeting reaffirmed India’s unwavering commitment to a policy of zero tolerance towards terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Observing a two-minute silence in memory of the victims, the Cabinet adopted a resolution expressing profound grief over the loss of lives in the incident and said the situation continues to be “closely monitored” at the highest levels of the government.
“The country has witnessed a heinous terror incident, perpetrated by anti-national forces, through a car explosion near the Red Fort on the evening of 10 November 2025. The explosion resulted in multiple fatalities, and caused injuries to several others.
“The Cabinet directs that the investigation into the incident be pursued with the utmost urgency and professionalism so that the perpetrators, their collaborators, and their sponsors are identified and brought to justice without delay.The situation continues to be closely monitored at the highest levels of the government,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said reading out the Cabinet resolution at a media briefing.
In another development, police said a red Ford EcoSport car suspected to be linked to the blast has been traced and seized in Faridabad district’s Khandawali area, police said.
The Delhi Police sounded an alert across all police stations, posts, and border checkpoints in the national capital to trace the vehicle after investigations revealed that other suspects, already connected to the Hyundai i20 used in the explosion, were also in possession of another red-coloured car.
A preacher from Haryana, who allegedly helped store explosives in his rented home near Al Falah university in the Muslim-dominated Dhauj village of Faridabad, meanwhile, was detained and brought to Srinagar early Wednesday, Jammu and Kashmir police officials said. He will be the ninth person to be nabbed in the case by police.
Maulvi Ishtiyaq belongs to Mewat and would conduct religious sermons in the Al Falah campus, which is at the centre of an interstate ‘white collar’ JeM terror module with links to the blast near Red Fort, officials said.
It was from his rented home that police recovered more than 2,500 kg of ammonium nitrate, potassium chlorate and sulphur, they said.
The explosives were stored by Muzammil and Umar, they said. Dr Shaheen Sayeed, who like the two men, is also connected to Al Falah University, is another key suspect who has been arrested.
The details of Umar’s plan have been pieced together after interrogation of the eight people arrested for their alleged links to the ‘white collar’ terror module centred in Faridabad and conversations with their family, friends and neighbours, the officials said.
According to officials, Umar informed the others about his December terror plan and began prepping for it by placing explosives in the Hyundai i20 he was driving on that fateful November 10.
It is likely that he was assembling a vehicle-based improvised explosive device (VBIED) after taking lessons on its construction and detonation circuit from open sources available on the internet, the officials said.
Umar may have panicked on November 10 when a top Faridabad police officer appeared on television announcing that a terror module had been busted with the recovery of 2,900 kg of explosives in Faridabad, officials said. The 2,900 kg included the 360 kg of inflammable material recovered from Muzammil’s rented accommodation.
Umar took refuge in a mosque in the walled city where he stayed for three hours on Monday evening before driving out. A premature explosion took place. The VBIED was also incomplete, as shrapnel had yet to be assembled, the officials said.
Umar, a 28-year-old doctor based in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, is believed to have been killed in the blast.
