New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) Sunday arrested the owner of the Hyundai i20, used in the blast outside Delhi’s Red Fort metro station on 10 November, an agency spokesman said. The blast has been confirmed to be triggered by vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
Amir Rashid Ali from Jammu & Kashmir’s Pampore was taken into custody in Delhi, in connection with the case. The spokesman said Ali was in the Capital to facilitate the i20 purchase. Dr Umar un Nabi, who is now being identified as a “suicide bomber”, allegedly used the i20 for the attack.
“Amir Rashid Ali, in whose name the car involved in the attack was registered, was arrested from Delhi by the NIA,” the spokesman said. “The NIA had launched a massive search operation after taking over the case from the Delhi Police.”
The vehicle was purchased from a Faridabad-based second-hand car dealer on the OLX marketplace, ThePrint earlier reported. The car dealer then claimed that two men bought a car from his agency, with documents of J&K.
“They gave us the required documents [for buying the car]…. We have given everything, including CCTV footage, to the police. After they gave documentation, we handed them the car,” Amit Patel, the car dealer, had told ThePrint.
The buyers were Ali and Nabi, the agency spokesman confirmed to ThePrint. The car’s forensic examination and other evidence, according to the spokesman, established that Nabi was the driver at the time of the explosion. A resident of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama, Nabi was one of the 13 who died in the blast.
So far, the NIA has examined 73 witnesses, including the injured.
The blast occurred Monday, minutes before 7 pm on a busy road, leaving 13 dead and 32 injured. Soon, the NIA had sent its team to the blast site to assist the Delhi Police. Police filed an FIR and initially investigated the matter. Later, the Ministry of Home Affairs handed the probe over to the NIA.
The NIA investigation has revealed that Amir Rashid Ali, a resident of Pampore tehsil’s Samboora, conspired with “suicide bomber” Dr Umar un Nabi to unleash the terror attack, said the spokesman.
“Amir had come to Delhi to facilitate the purchase of the car, used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast. NIA has forensically established the identity of the deceased driver as Umar Un Nabi, a resident of Pulwama district and assistant professor in the general medicine department of Al Falah University, Faridabad,” the spokesman added.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)