Delhi Red Fort blast: L-G directs stricter rules for ammonium nitrate, old vehicles sale, maintaining doctors database

Delhi blast

Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena directed the Police Commissioner and Chief Secretary to enforce stricter rules on the sale of ammonium nitrate following the Red Fort blast on November 10 that killed at least 15 days.

The Delhi Police have been asked to maintain a digital record of entities purchasing and selling ammonium nitrate beyond a certain threshold, including photograph of buyers and sellers.

The administration has also been told to build a central database of medical professionals -- doctors as well as para-medical workers -- employed across hospitals, particularly private ones.

This repository is to include details of degrees held by each practitioner. For those trained abroad, the LG has ordered that the information be shared with the police so that “secondary background checks” can be carried out.

As the Red Blast has been reported to be caused by explosives in car with multiple previous owners, vehicle ownership norms have also come under scrutiny.

The directives state that the administration must convene meetings with online marketplaces and financiers involved in buying and selling vehicles, especially used ones.

The message stresses that digital platforms must receive “clear directions” prohibiting any situation where a vehicle is operated by someone other than its registered owner.

The problem, the LG’s note adds, is notably visible in the auto-rickshaw sector, where the individual holding the permit is frequently not the person who actually owns or drives the vehicle.

The note from Raj Niwas also asks the Delhi Police to widen its intelligence efforts.

According to the written instructions, officers must “strengthen human and technical intelligence with a focus on vulnerable areas prone to radicalisation,” while simultaneously boosting citizen-focused outreach programmes.

Another measure calls for a structured conversation with major social media services -- “heads of social media platforms including Meta, Twitter [X] etc.” were specifically mentioned -- for what the LG’s office described as scientific tracking of radicalised material designed for “brainwashing citizens.”

In a written communication dated November 19 to the Police Commissioner and Chief Secretary from the LG Secretariat, directions were issued to the Delhi Police precautionary and preventive measures after the blasts.

The investigation into the deadly Red Fort car blast has uncovered a sophisticated ‘white-collar’ terror module, with a resurfaced video showing a massive 2,600 kg stash of ammonium nitrate in a cleric’s rented room in Faridabad and evidence pointing to a foiled plot for serial bombings, according to a TOI report.

The footage, filmed on November 9, a day before the Delhi explosion that killed 15 people, shows sacks of the chemical stacked inside a sparsely furnished house in an isolated location, for which the tenant paid just Rs 1,500 per month.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), which has formally taken over the case, is now probing whether arrested doctors Shaheen Shahid and Muzammil Shakeel were involved in procuring multiple vehicles for a broader serial bombing campaign. Initial findings suggest the duo may have arranged or financed several cars intended to be used as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices.

According to the TOI report, this larger plot was allegedly an “anniversary revenge attack” timed for the anniversary of the Babri Masjid demolition on December 6.

In a key development, the NIA on Thursday took custody of three doctors and a preacher previously arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police. The individuals — Muzammil Ganaie, Adeel Rather, Shaheena Saeed and Maulvi Irfan Ahmed Wagay — are now in the federal agency’s custody. An NIA spokesperson stated they had “all played a key role in the terror attack that killed several innocent persons and left many others injured.”