The Delhi Police have traced the Hyundai i20 that exploded near Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station, killing at least eight people and injuring several others, to a man from Pulwama district in Jammu and Kashmir, uncovering a fresh link in the probe.
Sources told CNN-News18 that the car, originally registered in Gurugram under the number HR26 and owned by Mohammad Salman, had changed hands multiple times before being sold to a resident of Shambhura village in Pulwama, identified as Tariq.
Sources confirmed that Delhi Police teams have informed their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir and that a team has now been dispatched to Srinagar to verify the Pulwama connection.
Salman, the first registered owner of the vehicle, told police that he sold
the i20 to a buyer in Delhi’s Okhla area last year.
Investigators have since tracked the car’s trail from Okhla to Pulwama, where it was allegedly purchased by Tariq. Police are now working to establish how the vehicle reached Delhi again before the explosion.
“Today, at around 6:52 pm, a slow-moving vehicle stopped at a red light. An explosion occurred inside the vehicle, damaging several nearby cars,” the Delhi Police said.
Preliminary forensic findings indicate that the blast originated from the rear of the car.
No crater or splinters were found at the site, and officials said the absence of shrapnel or pellet injuries among the victims suggests that the explosion may not have been caused by a high-intensity device.
The occupants reportedly suffered burn injuries rather than blast trauma.
Sources said the bodies of the deceased did not show signs typical of a powerful explosive, such as charring or fragmentation. Several vehicles behind the i20 were also damaged by the impact.
The Gurugram Police have detained Mohammad Salman for questioning, while Delhi Police and central agencies continue to piece together the chain of ownership and probe possible terror links behind the Pulwama connection.
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