‘He Was Waiting For A Taxi, Had Only Head Injury’: Father Of Red Fort Terror Attack Victim Recounts Horror

New Delhi: After the horrific Red Fort Car blast, which claimed the lives of eight people, Jagdish Kataria, father of one of the deceased, Amar Kataria, stated that it is still under speculation whether the blast was a terror attack, and recounted the incident. According to Kataria, the victim had a shop in Bhagirath Palace and was likely waiting for a taxi to return home when the blast occurred.

"We don't yet know if it was a terror attack. He had a shop in Bhagirath Palace and had left at around 6:45 PM. He might have been waiting for a taxi," he said. He said that the family received the information when they tried to contact him by phone. The victim succumbed to a head injury, while his body was fine.

"We got the information about it when we called on his phone number, and it was answered by a woman who told us about the blast... We identified him after an inquiry; he had a tattoo on his hand, a chain with a ring, and an earring... He had the injury only on his head, while his body was fine," Kataria told ANI.

Meanwhile, the explosion is being linked to the objectionable posters in the Nowgam area of Srinagar for which an FIR was registered on October 19, sources have said, noting security forces took strong action to bust an inter-state Jaish-e-Mohammed module linked to the terror plot.

During the investigation of this case, two arrests were made in Shopian and Ganderbal between October 20 and 27. On November 5, a medical practitioner, Dr Adil, was apprehended from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, sources said. They said two days later, an AK-56 rifle and other ammunition were seized in an Anantnag Hospital, and more guns, pistols, and explosives were subsequently recovered from a place in Faridabad.

During interrogation, the accused revealed the names of other persons involved in this module. Subsequently, Dr Muzammil, a doctor from Al Falah Medical College in Faridabad, was arrested, the sources said. Based on these leads, more arrests were made and a large cache of weapons and explosives was seized.

On November 9, a person named Madrasi, a resident of Dhauj, Faridabad, was arrested from his house. The next day, a massive consignment of explosives, weighing 2,563 kilograms, was recovered from the house of Hafeez Mohammad Ishtiaq, a resident of Mewat and an Imam at Al Falah Mosque in Faridabad's Dhera Colony. 

In subsequent raids, 358 kilograms of additional explosive material, detonators, and timers were seized, sources said, adding that approximately 3,000 kilograms of explosives and bomb-making equipment stored by this module were seized. During these operations, Umar, also part of the module and working as a medical practitioner at Al Falah Medical College, relocated due to constant pressure from the security forces, according to sources.

According to CCTV footage, the car in which the Red Fort explosion occurred was being driven by Umar, a member of this module. The blast was caused by the same type of material stockpiled in Faridabad, from where nearly 3,000 kilograms of explosives were seized, the sources said. They said whether the blast was pre-planned or accidental will be determined in further investigation.

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