India police investigate vehicle involved in fatal Delhi explosion | India
As police investigated the explosion outside Delhi’s historic Red Fort that killed eight people, authorities focused on the recent movements of the vehicle allegedly involved.
Police said the explosion occurred outside the Red Fort metro station around 7pm on Monday evening; This is a time when Delhi’s old city is usually packed with people, bustling markets and heavy traffic.
Delhi police commissioner Satish Golcha said the explosion occurred after a “slow-moving vehicle” stopped at a red light outside the metro station.
8 people died and nearly 20 people were injured in the explosion. The force of the explosion started a fire that destroyed nearby cars, motorcycles and rickshaws and shattered the windows of a gurdwara, or Sikh house of worship, 500 meters away.
Eyewitnesses said they saw limbs torn off the bodies and scattered on the roads. “I saw the car explode while it was moving,” 27-year-old Dharmindra Dhaga told AFP. “People were burning and we tried to save them… Cars and people were burning; people in the cars were burning.”
The cause of the explosion was unknown Tuesday morning as forensic teams and investigators from India’s federal counter-terrorism agency and the National Investigation Agency were probing the area. According to Indian media, police have filed a case under the country’s draconian anti-terrorism law, the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and explosives.
According to the information obtained, the teams conducting the investigation focused on the final movements of the vehicle that allegedly caused the explosion. On Monday night, two people were detained in connection with a Hyundai car registered in the neighboring state of Haryana.
CCTV footage reportedly showed that the car entered a car park near the Red Fort in Old Delhi around 3pm and remained there for about three hours, while the driver, who appeared to be wearing a mask, remained in the vehicle.
Home Minister Amit Shah said they were “investigating from all possible angles”, adding that until forensic samples were analyzed it was “very difficult to say what caused the incident”.
Afterwards, the country was on high alert with extra security measures implemented at airports and border areas. India’s financial capital Mumbai was also put on high alert.
The US State Department said its “hearts go out to those affected by the horrific explosion” and that it would “continue to monitor the situation closely.”
