Delhi Blast: How Police Used Footage From Over 50 CCTV Cameras To Reconstruct Umar Nabi’s Final Hours Before Red Fort Explosion?

Delhi Red Fort Blast: Using footage from over 50 CCTV cameras, the Delhi Police have reconstructed Dr Umar Nabi’s last hours before the deadly Red Fort blast. The chilling hours have been pieced together bit by bit, showing his departure from Faridabad the night before the Red Fort blast to driving a car explosives-laden car toward the Red Fort metro station the following evening, moments before it went up in flames.

The investigation reveals how Nabi travelled from Haryana to Delhi via the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, stopped at a roadside eatery, spent the night in his vehicle, and re-entered the national capital the next morning. Umar’s movements indicate meticulous planning and deliberate attempts to avoid detection, news agency PTI quoted an official as saying.

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CCTV Footage Captures Movement Before Red Fort Blast

According to a police official, Nabi began his journey on the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway on Sunday and then got off the expressway, reaching Firozpur Jhirka in Haryana’s Nuh district. He reportedly made a brief stop at a roadside dhaba and spent the night in his Hyundai i20 car. “He appeared calm, ordered food, and stayed for a while before continuing his journey,” the police official said.

On Monday morning, Nabi was again captured on CCTV along the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, driving slowly towards Delhi while stopping twice, once for tea and once, reportedly, to check his phone. The police official said that Nabi re-entered Delhi the next morning via the Badarpur border, using the route he had taken from Faridabad.

The route-mapping shows Nabi driving a white Hyundai i20, entering Delhi through Faridabad and circling through the city between 9:00 AM and 3:00 PM before parking near the Red Fort at 3:19 PM.

“Umar's car was first seen leaving Faridabad around 7:30 am near the Asian Hospital. He then crossed the Badarpur toll plaza at around 8:13 am, marking his entry into Delhi. From there, he moved through several parts of southeast Delhi, including Okhla and the industrial belt, crossed Connaught Place, before being spotted in east Delhi and later near central Delhi's Ring Road,” news agency PTI reported.

Several CCTV footage captured Dr Nabi travelling through multiple districts, beginning in Southeast Delhi, then East Delhi, New Delhi, Central Delhi, and finally Northwest Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, where he stopped at a roadside eatery around midday.

After a stop at Northwest Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, he drove back towards Central Delhi, where he visited a mosque near Asaf Ali Road, offered prayers and stayed for approximately three hours in the mosque’s parking area.

The CCTV reconstruction suggests that Nabi deliberately avoided major arterial roads, taking a zigzag route through crowded areas, likely to avoid detection or to study crowd movements.

“At 3:19 pm, Umar's car entered the parking area adjacent to the Red Fort complex, where it remained stationary for around three hours. CCTV footage shows the car parked quietly among other vehicles near the Sunehri Masjid parking,” PTI quoted an officer as saying.

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At around 6:22 PM, the white Hyundai i20 car was captured leaving the parking area, heading toward the Red Fort Metro Station. Just 30 minutes later, around 6:52 PM, the vehicle exploded, went up in flames, killing 13 people and leaving over two dozen injured.

The deadly explosion near the historic Red Fort was captured in a traffic surveillance footage. The Delhi Police, along with central agencies, have constructed Nabi’s last movements using footage from CCTV cameras, toll plaza data, GPS traces, and mobile tower dumps.

(With PTI Inputs)