Red Fort blast probe stalled by J&K protests against killing of Ayatollah: NIA

“To carry out pointing out of places in J&K where they (accused) have dealt with arms & ammunition and kept it for safe places for furtherance of terror act, facts have been revealed by them during police remand. Such pointing out could not be conducted…on account of the prevailing law and order situation in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and protests following the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,” the NIA said in remand papers submitted before a judge in the Patiala House Court recently.

The NIA is investigating the November 10, 2025 incident near Red Fort, in which a Hyundai i20 car exploded at a traffic signal, killing at least 13 people. The car was suspected to have been driven by Umar Nabi, a doctor from Pulwama, and the key figure in an alleged Kashmiri terrorist module.

In its earlier remand papers, the NIA had told the court that it wanted to “carry out crime simulation” and “point out remaining places in J&K (among other places)” which had allegedly been revealed by witnesses.

These submissions had been made while requesting extension of police custody of accused persons Tufail Ahmad Bhat and Zameer Ahmad Ahangar. The NIA also said that it wanted to extract social media accounts of the accused persons.