Delhi's Sarojini Nagar Blast Witness Helps Red Fort Explosion Victims

A blast near the historic Red Fort on Monday evening reopened wounds of the people who witnessed the deadly explosion in Delhi's Sarojini Nagar 20 years ago.

As soon as Ashok Randhawa, whose colleague was killed in the 2005 serial blasts, heard about the Monday incident, he rushed towards Red Fort to help the victims.

Nine people were killed and about 20 others injured when a blast ripped through a slow-moving car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort metro station at 6:52 PM. The explosion, which is now being probed under anti-terrorism law, also left nearby vehicles badly damaged.

"There are many people from outside Delhi who have lost their relatives in the blast, who cannot take their bodies with them. They are in need of money. So we have arranged for an ambulance or any private vehicle for them to take their bodies," Randhawa, who is the president of the Sarojini Nagar Mini Market Traders Association, told NDTV.

He also recalled the 2005 blasts, in which more than 50 people were killed, and shared how he survived.

"Lalchand Saluja was the secretary of our association. It was the day of Dhanteras. There was a lot of crowd in the market. There were lakhs of people. So, he called me to his shop to disperse the public. I said, 'They won't listen to me, so I am calling the police'. As soon as I reached the nearby police booth, the bomb exploded," he said.

"Saluja was torn into two pieces. I had never seen such a scene in my life," he said.

"Since then, we have been in touch with everyone who has been the victim of blasts in Delhi. We try to help them in some way or the other," Randhawa said.

Surendra Kumar, who lost his elder brother in the 2005 explosions, was also among those who assisted the victims of the Monday blast.

Blast Near Delhi's Red Fort

The police sources said the powerful explosion was believed to have originated from a white-coloured Hyundai i20 car that had stopped at a traffic signal.

The Haryana-registered vehicle belonged to Umar Mohammad, a resident of Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, who is believed to have been driving the car when the blast was triggered, sources said.

Umar, a doctor by profession, has also been a member of a radical doctors' group that coordinated on Telegram and has links to the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), a Pakistan-based terror group, sources said.

Hours before the blast, the police in neighbouring Faridabad in Haryana said they had recovered 2,900 kg of explosives and inflammable material from two rented rooms of a Kashmiri doctor, Muzammil Shakeel.

Shakeel and another Kashmiri doctor, Adeel Ahmad Rather, were among eight people who were arrested for allegedly being part of a "white-collar terror" module involving the Jaish-e-Mohammed and Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind and spanning Kashmir, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

The 2,900 kg of explosive material recovered in Faridabad included ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulphur.

A link has now also emerged between the blast near Red Fort and the "white-collar" terror module, with sources saying that Umar was also a part of the group.