CCTV trail shows Umar’s calm drive, night stay, zigzag routes before deadly Red Fort blast

“He appeared to be in hiding but not in panic. He avoided major towns, preferring highways and small eateries," the police source said.

Later, on Monday morning, he was again seen on CCTV cameras installed along the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway, driving slowly toward Delhi. The footage shows him stopping twice, once for tea and once apparently to check his mobile phone.

Police said Umar re-entered Delhi the following morning through the Badarpur border, using the same route he had taken earlier from Faridabad. "He seemed to have planned every step, including his entry and exit routes, to avoid detection," said the police source.

The route-mapping shows that Umar, who drove a white Hyundai i20, entered Delhi from Faridabad and made multiple loops across the city between 8 am and 3 pm before finally parking near the Red Fort at 3:19 pm.

"Umar's car was first seen leaving Faridabad around 7:30 am near the Asian Hospital. He then crossed the Badarpur toll plaza at around 8:13 am, marking his entry into Delhi. From there, he moved through several parts of southeast Delhi, including Okhla and the industrial belt, crossed Connaught Place, before being spotted in east Delhi and later near central Delhi's Ring Road," said the police source.

The reconstruction using the CCTV footage shows that Umar deliberately avoided major arterial roads and instead took a zigzag path through crowded areas, possibly to confuse surveillance or to study crowd movements.

He was seen on cameras in multiple districts -- starting from Southeast Delhi, then East, New Delhi, Central, and Northwest Delhi’s Ashok Vihar, where he stopped at a roadside eatery around midday.

"He appeared calm, ordered food, and stayed for a while before continuing his journey," said the source.

After this stop, he drove back towards central Delhi, where he visited a mosque near Asaf Ali Road, close to the Ramlila Maidan. He offered prayers there and stayed for around three hours in the parking area, the footage shows.

Police said his phone activity during this period is also being closely examined. Investigators suspect he might have received instructions before proceeding toward the site.

"At 3:19 pm, Umar's car entered the parking area adjacent to the Red Fort complex, where it remained stationary for around three hours. CCTV footage shows the car parked quietly among other vehicles near the Sunehri Masjid parking," an officer privy to the investigation said.

Around 6:22 pm, the car was seen leaving the parking area and heading towards the Red Fort Metro Station side. Barely 30 minutes later, at 6:52 pm, the vehicle exploded in a powerful blast that shattered windows, scattered body parts across the road, and triggered panic among visitors and commuters in the area.

The explosion was captured in traffic surveillance footage, which showed a slow-moving white car suddenly erupting into a ball of fire amid rush-hour traffic. The blast that killed 13 people also injured more than two dozen others.

The Delhi Police and central agencies have now prepared a detailed hour-by-hour timeline of Umar’s movements, using footage from CCTV cameras, toll plaza data, GPS traces, and mobile tower dumps.

Umar, who was known as an academically accomplished professional in his circle, allegedly turned radical over the past two years. Investigators said he had joined several suspected messaging groups.

The DNA test of samples collected from the Red Fort blast site has confirmed that Dr Umar Nabi was driving the car that exploded on Monday.

His mother’s DNA samples were collected on Tuesday and sent here for examination. They were analysed along with the remains gathered from the blast site.

"The DNA results confirm that it was indeed Umar who was driving the fateful vehicle," said a source.