Within hours of a blast near Delhi’s Red Fort that killed at least ten people and injured at least 20, Delhi and Gurugram police detained three suspects from Gurugram’s Shanti Nagar late on Monday night, officials said. The teams began the search after identifying a white Hyundai i20 (HR 26-CE 7674) used in the blast, registered under the name of Mohammed Salman, 28, a resident of Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh.
The detained individuals were identified as Dinesh Bhagel, 28, owner of the Shanti Nagar building where Salman had earlier rented a floor; Mohammed Javed, 33, Salman’s brother who works at a glass company; and Mohammed Salman himself, the car’s original owner, who was later traced to a housing society on Sohna-Badhshahpur Road, officials said. According to the vehicle’s registration certificate, the car still listed an old address — House No. 631/12, third floor — from four years ago. Around 11.30pm, about 30 police officials reached Shanti Nagar to trace the car’s links.
“They inspected the entire three-floor rented house, spreading into 1800 square feet. The building’s owner, Dinesh Bhagel, was detained. Denying his links to the vehicle used in the bomb blast that killed eight people in the national capital, he shared how Salman had approached him in 2020 to provide a rental agreement to register his newly purchased car at Gurugram RTO,” said Govind Bhagel, Dinesh’s uncle.
Govind said Salman had lived there with his wife, Farah, and two children before vacating the premises.
“He was a family man. We didn’t have any reason to suspect him of being involved in any illegal activities,” said Beerabati Bhagel, Dinesh’s mother.
Jaan Mohammed, a local witness, said both Salman and Javed had been living in Sector 11, Gurugram, since 2016 and were regulars at the local mosque.
“Javed later spilt out the whereabouts of Salman… Both Dinesh and Javed were taken to the location. Since then, we have not heard anything from them,” he said.
A senior Shivaji Nagar police station official said Salman had sold the car to an operator in Dhunela 18 months ago. It was reportedly resold several times, last in Faridabad a few weeks ago, before being used in the blast.
“We are investigating a chain of purchase and sale cycles of the vehicle,” another senior police official said.
Sandeep Turan, spokesperson for the Gurugram Police, said, “Both the Gurugram and Delhi police teams are working actively to track down the remaining suspects. We have stepped up enforcement across the city to prevent any untoward incident.”