The Silence and the Smoke: Red Fort Blast Was Not an Accident—It Was Terror

The official confirmation has yet to land, but on the streets of Old Delhi, the verdict is already chillingly clear: The explosion that ripped through a car near the Red Fort Metro Station was not an accident—it was terror.

The sheer violence of the blast, which has now claimed the lives of 13 innocent people, shattered the capital’s fragile sense of security. As forensic teams sift through the carnage, the truth is being pieced together from a frightening trail of evidence that runs straight through a high-profile terror module recently busted in Haryana.

The Union Government has wasted no time, officially handing the probe to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and registering charges under the anti-terror law, the UAPA. This swift move confirms what citizens already feared: the ghosts of terror have returned to the capital.

The Network Exposed: From Pulwama to the NCR

This isn’t the work of a lone wolf. This attack is the desperate, panicked act of a network that security forces had already cornered.

Just hours before the blast, a joint operation scored a massive victory against a Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) module operating out of safe houses in Faridabad. What they found was staggering: nearly 2,900 kg of bomb-making material, including massive quantities of suspected Ammonium Nitrate. This white-collar terror cell, chillingly, included educated professionals like doctors.

The trail of the exploded Hyundai i20 led investigators directly back to this nexus, to a man identified as Dr. Umar Mohammad, a medical professional from Pulwama, J&K.

The Suicide Theory: A Desperate Final Act

The current working theory among intelligence officials is devastating: The Red Fort blast was a panic-triggered suicide mission.

The arrested JeM module members were reportedly preparing for a series of planned attacks across the NCR. Dr. Umar, upon learning his associates were apprehended and the explosives cache had been seized, may have made the desperate choice to detonate the device he was carrying. It was not a successful “masterpiece” attack; it was a rushed, brutal final spasm of a terror plot that was already collapsing.

For the 13 victims who were simply commuting or running errands near the historic Red Fort, their lives were sacrificed for a terrorist’s final, panicked defiance.

Now, We Wait for the Forensics

The NIA’s immediate priority is to conclusively match the human remains found at the blast site with Dr. Umar’s DNA to confirm the suicide bomber’s identity. They are also desperately seeking traces of conventional explosives like RDX. The initial intensity of the explosion made forensic confirmation difficult, but the circumstantial evidence—the UAPA charges, the JeM link, and the connection to the Faridabad haul—is overwhelming.

The city, still holding its breath under a massive security cover, waits for the final word. But for the families grieving the loss of their loved ones, the chaos, the smoke, and the subsequent official action have already spoken volumes: The Red Fort blast was a deliberate, violent act of terror, and the fight against this hidden network is far from over.