A Gujarat doctor arrested with three handguns and resources to make ricin, a potential bioweapon. Another from Jammu and Kashmir arrested in Haryana with 2,900 kg of explosive substances, including 350 kg of ammonium nitrate, and two assault rifles. And a third, also from J&K, arrested in Uttar Pradesh for putting up posters praising Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based terrorist group.
Three apparently unrelated arrests on Sunday night and Monday morning.
Then on Monday evening a high-intensity blast in Delhi's crowded Red Fort area.
Nine people were killed and 20 injured after a Hyundai i20 car with Haryana number plates - HR26 CE 7674 - rolled up to the Subhash Marg traffic signal at Gate 1 of the Lal Qila metro station and exploded.
The force ignited 22 nearby vehicles and ripped apart the bodies of those killed.
Were the arrests of the terrorists and the Red Fort car blast connected?
It is still too early to say. In fact, it is too early to assume anything at all.
And, therefore, a grim-faced Home Minister Amit Shah would not comment.
He only told reporters an inquiry involving forensic scientists and anti-terrorism experts from the NIA and the NSG, as well as Delhi Police's Special Branch, had been launched. "We are exploring all possibilities… and will conduct a thorough investigation, taking all possibilities into account."
READ | "In-Depth Probe": Home Minister Amit Shah Visits Delhi Red Fort Blast Site
But, it is safe to say, the blast – powerful enough that the bodies of those killed were literally ripped apart – has shaken the national capital, coming hours after news of terrorists arrested in Gujarat, Haryana, and UP, and reports of powerful explosive agents and deadly toxins.
The ricin doctor
Gujarat Police's Anti-Terror Squad arrested Dr Ahmed Mohiyuddin Saiyed from the town of Adalaj near state capital Gandhinagar on Sunday. Saiyed was carrying three handguns, two Austrian-made Glock pistols and an Italian-made Beretta, as well as ammunition for these weapons.
The cops also recovered four litres of castor oil, a widely-used and available product that can also be used to make ricin – a highly toxic substance that kills by entering the body's cells and stopping production of essential proteins, which leads to cell death and organ failure.
Worse, ricin can be weaponised as a powder or a mist (i.e., it can be aerosolised).
And Gujarat ATS sources gave NDTV worrying news; the doctor may have been prepping for a poison-based terrorist attack on sensitive locations in either Delhi, Lucknow, or Ahmedabad.
READ | Ammonium Nitrate To Ricin Poison, Terror Attacks And The Doctors Behind Them
"He had already begun the necessary research, procured the equipment and raw materials, and initiated the initial chemical processing," Gujarat ATS Deputy-Inspector General Sunil Joshi said.
Initial inquiries show Saiyed as a "highly-educated but radicalised" individual, who planned to collect funds and recruit persons as part of a conspiracy to carry out major terrorist strikes.
And he also had links to the Islamic State-Khorasan Province, a regional branch of the larger Islamic State terrorist group that is known for particularly brutal attacks, including a 2016 suicide bombing in Kabul that killed 97 people and two more in Pakistan in 2018 that killed 131.
The ammonium nitrate recovery
Meanwhile, almost simultaneously, police from Jammu and Kashmir were in Haryana's Faridabad raiding two residential buildings linked to a Dr Mujammil Shakeel, and recovered a frightening amount of explosive substances – nearly 3,000kg of bomb-making materials.
This included 350kg of ammonium nitrate and detonators – and assault rifles and ammunition.
Mujammil Shakeel (L) and Adil Ahmad Rather (R).
Shakeel, who worked with the Al-Falah Hospital in Faridabad, was the second doctor from J&K to be arrested in this operation. Hours earlier a Dr Adil Ahmad Rather was picked up from Uttar Pradesh's Saharanpur; this was after CCTV footage identified him as one of two men who put up posters praising banned Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, in J&K's Nowgam.
The other man was Shakeel.
Later a third doctor – Shaheen Shahid – was also arrested; the police said Shahid allowed Shakeel to store an assault rifle and some ammunition in her car, a Maruti Suzuki Swift.
Sources told NDTV the ammonium nitrate recovered from Shakeel's homes could, depending on the explosive charge used, have detonated with a blast radius of 100 metres.
The Kashmir connection
A second J&K Police team was in action at the Government Medical College in Anantnag district, at which Adil Rather worked till October last year. And in a locker that had been allotted to him (and to which he apparently retained access), the cops found an assault rifle and ammunition.
The assault rifle recovered from the locker assigned to Rather at the Anantnag hospital.
Meanwhile, sources also told NDTV late Monday that one of the owners of the car that exploded in Delhi was a man called Tariq, who hailed from J&K's Pulwama district.
READ | Hyundai i20 In Delhi Blast Was Sold To Man From Kashmir's Pulwama
Both Shakeel and Rather are being interrogated again, sources said.
Delhi Red Fort car blast
Now this, of course, is speculative. At this time here is no concrete link between any of these arrests and the Delhi Red Fort car blast, nor is there proof yet the latter was a terrorist attack.
Several nearby vehicles caught fire after the initial explosion.
What we do know is that there was a powerful blast that seemed to come from the rear of a white Hyundai i20, with Haryana number plates, that pulled up at a traffic signal in Delhi's Red Fort area.
READ | Delhi Blast Car Was Hyundai i20 With Haryana Plates, Explosion In Rear
We also know one of the car's owners was a man called Tariq from J&K's Pulwama.
One of the owners of the i20 was Tariq from J&K's Pulwama.
It is important to note that in India cars are often re-sold without changes to the registration and ownership details, as required by law. Therefore, it is unclear if Tariq is the current owner or owned it at some point in the past. The car's original owner – Salman – is in police custody.
We also know that India's premier anti-terror agency, the NIA, and the elite National Security Guard, are leading the investigation at this stage. Delhi Police's Special Cell are also involved.
And we know that Delhi is on high alert, as are multiple states, including UP and Rajasthan, which share borders with Delhi, and Bihar, which votes in an Assembly election a few hours from now.
Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, both no strangers to terror attacks, have also ramped up security. And the India-Nepal border, normally an open crossing, is being monitored.
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