Red Fort blast: NIA arrests Amir Rashid Ali, owner of car used in deadly bombing

New Delhi:The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday arrested a Kashmiri resident for his alleged role in the car bomb blast near Delhi’s Red Fort that killed 12 people and injured 32 others earlier this month.

The accused, identified as Amir Rashid Ali of Samboora, Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir, was arrested in Delhi. The car used in the November 10 explosion was registered in his name, the agency said.

According to the NIA, Ali conspired with the suspected suicide bomber, Dr Umar Un Nabi, to execute the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) attack that shook the national capital around 7 pm that day.

Investigations have revealed that Ali came to Delhi to facilitate the purchase of the car later used for the blast. The NIA has forensically confirmed the identity of the driver killed in the explosion as Umar Un Nabi, an assistant professor in the Department of General Medicine at Al-Falah University in Faridabad and a resident of Pulwama.

The agency has also seized another vehicle belonging to Nabi and is examining it for evidence. So far, 73 witnesses, including several injured victims, have been questioned in connection with the case.

The NIA said it continues to work in close coordination with Delhi Police, Jammu and Kashmir Police, Haryana Police, Uttar Pradesh Police, and other agencies to trace the wider network behind the attack.

“The agency is pursuing multiple leads to unearth the larger conspiracy and identify all those involved,” the NIA said in a statement.

With inputs from ANI