A Hyundai i20 car that exploded outside Red Fort Metro Gate No. 1 was traced to a Pulwama resident who bought it in Delhi last year, police said.
BY PC Bureau
New Delhi, November 10, 2025: A Hyundai i20 car that exploded outside Gate No. 1 of Red Fort Metro Station on Monday evening — killing eight people and injuring 22 — was purchased last year by a resident of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district, Delhi Police said.
The blast occurred at 6:52 pm amid peak traffic in the Chandni Chowk area, reducing the white hatchback to a charred shell and setting three nearby vehicles ablaze. Forensic experts have recovered traces of RDX from the wreckage, a senior police officer told PTI.
Police have identified the car’s buyer as Tariq Ahmad Dar (34), a resident of Kakapora, Pulwama. A special team left for Srinagar late Monday night to question Dar and trace the vehicle’s movement after its sale in Delhi’s Okhla area in October 2024.
“Ownership records show the car was earlier registered to a Gurugram resident before being sold to the Pulwama man. We are verifying if he was the end-user or merely a conduit,” said Joint CP (Special Cell) HGS Dhaliwal.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Explosive Substances Act, and formally took over the probe within hours of the incident.
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🚨 Footage from the exact moment the blast occurred near Red Fort.
The explosion is very loud. pic.twitter.com/O6IXvAf8y6
— Beats in Brief 🗞️ (@beatsinbrief) November 10, 2025
COORDINATED RAIDS IN HARYANA
In a related operation, Haryana Police seized 2,900 kg of explosives from a house in Faridabad’s Ballabhgarh early Monday and arrested two men — Dr Mujammil Shakeel, a Unani practitioner from Pulwama, and Adil Ahmad Rather, also from the same district.
Sources said the explosive material used in the Red Fort device may have come from this cache. “Both cases appear interlinked. The Pulwama connection is the common thread,” an MHA official said.
The dead include three auto-rickshaw drivers, two pedestrians, and a Delhi Metro employee. Twenty-two others are undergoing treatment at Lok Nayak and GTB hospitals, with five reported to be critical.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Home Minister Amit Shah, directing “swift and thorough action.” Shah visited the blast site around 9:30 pm and later reviewed security at the hospital.
The national capital has been placed on high alert. NSG commandos, dog squads, and bomb detection teams have been deployed across metro stations, airports, and major religious sites.
“I was buying fruits when the car stopped at the signal and blew up. The blast threw me nearly ten feet away,” said Mohammad Aslam, a fruit vendor at the site.
CCTV footage shows the i20 halting for about 12 seconds before the explosion. The driver’s charred body was found strapped to the seat, police said.
NIA sleuths are now examining call detail records, bank transactions, and social media profiles of the arrested suspects. A red alert has been issued across Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, and Haryana.
Further details are awaited.
