Srinagar: Authorities plan to collect a DNA sample from the mother of Umar Nabi, the main suspect of Monday evening’s blast outside the Red Fort metro station in Delhi. This will be matched with samples collected from unidentified bodies recovered from the blast site to ascertain whether Nabi was in the Hyundai i20 that exploded, killing at least 13 people and injuring several others.
CCTV footage from the area showed a person matching Nabi’s description driving the car when it parked close to the site, a few hours before the blast. The car left the parking lot after three hours and footage showed a man, with his face partially covered, in the driving seat. It could not be made out whether the man was Nabi.
Investigators are now trying to find out if Nabi was in the car when it exploded or left from the parking lot.
Nabi hails from the Koil village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama. A police team reached his house soon after the blast and questioned family members. They then took away his mother and two brothers, ostensibly to collect DNA samples and get more details about the man.
Nabi was a post-graduate doctor at the Al Falah University’s School of Medical Sciences and Research Centre in Faridabad’s Dhauj village. He was a colleague of Muzammil Ahmad Ganai, another doctor at that college. Incidentally, Ganai also belongs to Koil village. He was arrested for alleged terror links. Later, the police seized 358 kg of explosive material, suspected to be ammonium nitrate, from his rented house in Faridabad, about 55 km from Delhi.
The police suspect that both Ganai and Nabi are part of a terror module planning strikes across the country. Two other doctors, including a woman, have also been arrested in this case. The total amount of explosives seized was over 2,900 kg. Two AK series rifles, detonators and ammunition were also seized.
The police have carried out extensive raids in Pulwama since Monday evening and arrested five persons. They include Amir Rashid from Samboora village who allegedly owned the Hyundai i20 that exploded. His brother has also been arrested.