Red Fort Blast: Delhi Terror Plot Linked to 32 Explosive-Laden Cars, NIA Probes Jaish-E-Mohammed Role

Red Fort Blast: Delhi Terror Plot Linked to 32 Explosive-Laden Cars, NIA Probes Jaish-E-Mohammed Role

Investigators probing Monday’s Red Fort blast have uncovered a chilling plot involving 32 cars that were allegedly being prepared to carry explosives for coordinated serial attacks across Delhi on December 6, the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition, sources told NDTV.

The vehicles included a Maruti Suzuki Brezza, Maruti Swift Dzire, and a Ford EcoSport — all selected because they were old and had changed hands several times, making them difficult to trace. The Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort was part of the same fleet, investigators said.

According to sources, the blasts were intended as acts of “revenge.”

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Four Cars Found, One Linked to Bomber

Four of the cars have been located so far. The Brezza was found on the campus of Al-Falah School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Faridabad, which has emerged as a hub of the terror network. The EcoSport (DL10 CK 0458) was recovered late Wednesday, abandoned in the same area. A young man found sleeping in the back seat was taken into custody.

The Swift Dzire, seized earlier in the week, contained an assault rifle and ammunition.

Forensic tests revealed traces of ammonium nitrate inside the EcoSport. Police said it was used to transport explosive materials across locations in Delhi and Haryana.

The car was registered to Dr. Umar Mohammad, the suicide bomber who detonated the i20 near the Red Fort. Registered eight years ago in Delhi’s Rajouri Garden, the vehicle is now central to the NIA’s investigation.

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Premature Blast May Have Thwarted Larger Attack

Officials believe the Red Fort explosion was not meant to happen when it did. The i20, packed with a mixture of high-grade explosives and ammonium nitrate fuel oil, entered Delhi from the Badarpur border on Monday morning.

Investigators suspect Umar Mohammad — also known as Umar un-Nabi — intended to park the car inside the fort’s premises. But since the monument is closed to visitors on Mondays, he detonated it instead at a busy traffic signal near the fort’s entrance and a metro station.

Thirteen people were killed in the blast. Officials believe Mohammad may have panicked after the arrests of his accomplices — Adil Ahmad Rather, Mujammil Shakeel, and Shahina Saeed — and the discovery of nearly 3,000 kg of explosives and assault rifles hidden at Al-Falah Hospital in Faridabad and Government Medical College in Anantnag, Jammu and Kashmir.

The cell, investigators say, was operated by the Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM).

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NIA Uncovers Diaries and Coded Messages

A team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) reached Faridabad on Wednesday to question Mohammad’s associates and staff members at Al-Falah University. Two diaries filled with encrypted notes and code words were seized from Room 13, Building 17 — the quarters of Dr. Muzammil Shakeel, one of the three doctors arrested.

Both diaries, belonging to Shakeel and Umar Mohammad, contained repeated references to the word “operation,” suggesting a direct link to the Red Fort blast, investigators said.

Digital evidence also points to the group’s use of encrypted communication channels to receive instructions from foreign handlers. Common code words included “package” and “shipment,” used to refer to explosives such as ammonium nitrate, fuel oil, and oxide.

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Al-Falah Institution Distances Itself

Several of the suspects either studied or worked at Al-Falah University, which has since issued a statement condemning their actions.

“As a responsible institution, we stand in solidarity with the nation and reaffirm our unwavering commitment to the country,” the university said, adding that it had no role in the terror conspiracy.

The NIA’s investigation continues to unravel what officials describe as a new strategy by terrorist networks — infiltrating local communities by posing as white-collar professionals, in this case, doctors, to evade suspicion.

The discovery of the abandoned cars, coded diaries, and explosive stockpiles has offered the clearest picture yet of a meticulously planned attack that was narrowly averted — and has exposed a dangerous shift in tactics by cross-border terror outfits.