Red Fort blast: Bodies charred beyond recognition, victims' kin identify loved ones through tattoos, torn clothes

The blast near Delhi’s Red Fort metro station parking claimed 12 lives. (Courtesy: PTI photo)

Panic gripped Old Delhi after a high-intensity explosion ripped through a car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening leaving at least 12 people dead. The blast, that occurred in a Hyundai i20 car around 6.52pm, appeared like a red balloon bursting.

In the chaos that followed, charred bodies lay on the road around the blast site alongside vehicles that went up in flames. The scenes from and outside LNJP Hospital were devastating - anxious family members were frantically running around seeking details of the missing. And the worse, heartbroken relatives trying to identify their loved ones looking at charred remains.

The bodies that came in were beyond recognition and the last resort for family members was either torn clothes or identification marks including tattoos.

Putting a name to loved ones ...

Among the victims was 34-year-old Amar Kataria, a pharmaceutical businessman from Chandni Chowk. His body was charred beyond recognition, but his family found out about his death upon seeing the tattoos on his arms.

"Mom my first love and Dad my strength were inked on his arms. This helped the Kataria family identify him at the mortuary on Monday night," Hindustan Times mentioned in its report.

"Amar had a shop in Bhagirath Palace and had left at around 6:45pm. We got the information when we called 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," his father told news agency ANI.

In another case, clothing became the last link between the living and the dead. Idris spent the entire night in search of his nephew Mohammad Zunman who was the sole breadwinner of the family.

"Police asked us to check the hospital, so we went to the LNJP but he wasn't there. As we were waiting file a missing report, a call came, which turned our world upside down," Idris said.

"Some body parts were missing, like the legs. His body was badly damaged. We identified him through his blue T-shirt and jacket," his uncle said.

Jumman, who lived in Shastri Park, is survived by his disabled wife and children.

For the family of 30-year-old Pankaj Sahni (a cab driver), the night began on an anxious note and ended in devastation. His father, Ram Balak Sahni, first saw reports of the blast on TV around 9.30 pm.

"Pankaj left home around 5.30 pm on Monday to drop off a client in the Old Delhi area. I started calling him but there was no response. My friends also tried, but his phone was unreachable. We rushed to the blast site, it was complete chaos," his father said.

"Then a call came from the cops asking what was my son wearing. I told them a shirt and blue jeans ... One of my relatives went inside the place where bodies were kept and identified Pankaj," Balak told PTI.

The deafening blast

A high-intensity explosion ripped through a car at a traffic signal near the Red Fort metro station on Monday evening leaving at least 12 people dead. Delhi Police on Tuesday registered an FIR under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act and the Explosives Act in connection with the deadly blast.

The white i20 car, believed to have been driven by Dr Umar Nabi, was reportedly parked inside Al-Falah Medical College campus in Faridabad for nearly 12 days before the blast. Dr Nabi worked as assistant professor in the Haryana-based university.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on November 11 formally handed over the investigation to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), citing a terror angle behind the explosion. The probe agency has constituted a "dedicated and comprehensive" team to probe the Red Fort car blast incident.