New Delhi, Nov 11 — Security experts investigating the Red Fort blast that killed eight and injured several others believe the attack may have been a desperate “lone wolf” act triggered by panic after major terror busts in Kashmir and Faridabad came to light.
Former National Security Advisory Board member Kulbir Krishan called the theory “plausible,” linking the chain of events — from the seizure of explosives from doctors in Kashmir to the joint police operation in Faridabad — to the Delhi explosion. He noted that CCTV footage showed the suspect’s car entering Delhi from the Faridabad border around 8:15 a.m. and remaining parked near a mosque for nearly three hours before the blast. “If Umar Nabi was indeed the driver, he may have been killed instantly in the explosion,” Krishan said, suggesting he might have panicked after the recent raids.
The investigation began after Srinagar Police spotted Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) posters on October 27. One of the accused, Adil Ahmed Rather — a senior resident doctor from Anantnag — was arrested along with two other doctors from Saharanpur and Allahabad. Their interrogation led to a joint Jammu and Kashmir–Haryana Police raid in Dhauj village, Faridabad, where 350 kg of ammonium nitrate, AK-47 rifles, and ammunition were seized.
Officials now believe the Faridabad cache was part of a broader plot involving Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind operatives, with Delhi as a key target. The Red Fort explosion is suspected to have been executed prematurely after the module’s exposure.
Investigators say the arrests of doctors and clerics reveal terror groups’ new strategy of recruiting educated professionals to evade detection. Authorities credit inter-state coordination and timely intelligence with averting a much larger terror strike, though media leaks may have prompted the hasty Delhi blast.
