Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) [India], November 12 : Communist Party of India (CPI) MP Binoy Viswam expressed deep shock at the Red Fort blast, which claimed the lives of eight people on Monday evening.
While speaking to ANI, he said that the blast showcases the lapse in the security system of India and criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for the unfortunate incident. Recalling the Pahalgam terror attack, he said that the government has failed to protect the national capital.
"It's a shock to the whole nation. A blast occurred in the national capital near the Red Fort, leaving people deeply troubled. In a country like India, where so many people on the street blast like this shows that our security system has serious lapses. The government has a duty to protect us, but after Pahalgam, we have witnessed another blast, and that too in the capital, which shows that under the BJP regime, people are not really safe," the CPI MP said.
Meanwhile, the threads of the Delhi blast are linked to objectionable posters in the Nowgam area of Srinagar for which an FIR was registered on October 19, sources have said, noting security forces took strong action to bust an inter-state Jaish-e-Mohammed module linked to the terror plot.
During the investigation of this case, two arrests were made from Shopian and Ganderbal between October 20 and 27, and on November 5, a medical practitioner, Dr Adil, was apprehended from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, sources said.
They said two days later, an AK-56 rifle and other ammunition were seized in an Anantnag Hospital, and more guns, pistols, and explosives were subsequently recovered from a place in Faridabad.
During interrogation, the accused revealed the names of other persons involved in this module. Subsequently, Dr Muzammil, a doctor from Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad, was arrested, the sources said. On the basis of these leads, more arrests were made and a large cache of weapons and explosives was seized.
On November 9, a person named Madrasi, a resident of Dhauj, Faridabad, was arrested from his house. The next day, a massive consignment of explosives, weighing 2,563 kilograms, was recovered from the house of Hafeez Mohammad Ishtiaq, a resident of Mewat and an Imam at Al Falah Mosque in Faridabad's Dhera Colony. In subsequent raids, 358 kilograms of additional explosive material, detonators, and timers were seized, sources said, adding that approximately 3,000 kilograms of explosives and bomb-making equipment stored by this module were seized.
During these operations, Umar, also part of the module and working as a medical practitioner at Al Falah Medical College, changed his location as he was under constant pressure from the security forces, the sources said.
According to CCTV footage, the car in which the Red Fort explosion occurred was being driven by Umar, a member of this module. The explosion was caused by the same type of material stockpiled in Faridabad, from where nearly 3,000 kilograms of explosives were seized, the sources said.
They said whether the blast was pre-planned or accidental will be determined in further investigation.
Meanwhile, the blast, which occurred around 7 pm on Monday evening near the Subhash Marg traffic signal close to the Red Fort, involved a slow-moving Hyundai i20 car that exploded, as per Union Home Minister Amit Shah, damaging nearby vehicles.