Sold, resold, never registered: Inside the murky resale trail of the Hyundai i20 that exploded near the Red Fort

From Faridabad to Pulwama, investigators are piecing together how a Hyundai i20 with no formal ownership trail became the vehicle behind Delhi’s deadly Red Fort explosion.

A white Hyundai i20 that changed hands four times without a single formal ownership transfer has become the focus of Delhi Police’s investigation into the Red Fort blast that killed eight people on Monday evening.

CCTV footage reviewed by investigators shows the car circling crowded areas of Old Delhi for hours before it exploded near Gate No. 1 of the Red Fort Metro Station, gutting nearby vehicles and leaving more than 20 injured.

The Kotwali Police have registered a case under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), the Explosive Substances Act, and sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) covering terrorist acts, conspiracy, and endangerment of public safety.

At least one person has been detained in Kashmir in connection with the blast.

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Two ownership trails, one mystery

Investigators are now combing through two parallel sale chains reported by different outlets to establish who last possessed the car.

As per News18, the i20 was originally purchased by Salman on March 18, 2014, and later passed informally to Devendra, Sonu, and finally Tariq, without any change in the registration certificate. A Faridabad-based car dealer surfaced in one of the transactions, prompting questions about how the vehicle was resold outside official channels.

A separate trail reported by India Today shows the car was first registered to Mohammad Salman, sold to Nadeem, transferred to Royal Car Zone (a used-car dealership in Faridabad), then to Tariq, and eventually ended up with Dr Umar Mohammad, who investigators believe may have been linked to a Faridabad terror module.

Police say they are reconciling both chains to pinpoint who had custody of the car on the day of the blast and why ownership records were never updated despite multiple resales.

What CCTV footage reveals

According to NDTV, the i20 was first seen around 1 pm on Monday and entered a parking lot near Sunehri Masjid at 3:19 pm. The car remained parked there for more than three hours, its driver never stepping out, before exiting at 6:48 pm. Four minutes later, at 6:52 pm, it exploded near the Gauri Shankar and Jain temples, a few metres from the Red Fort Metro gate.

Other cameras had earlier captured the vehicle in Kashmiri Gate, Daryaganj, and Chhata Rail Chowk. Police sources said the driver, seen in a blue-and-black T-shirt, appeared to be acting alone.

“He was either waiting for someone or awaiting instructions in the parking lot,” a senior officer told NDTV.

Why the car trail matters

Investigators believe the car’s unrecorded transfers could have been deliberately engineered to conceal its final owner. Informal sales, often conducted through small dealers without registration updates, make it difficult for authorities to trace real possession. a vulnerability terror networks may exploit.

A senior Delhi Police officer told News18 the focus now is on the Faridabad dealership that handled one of the transactions. Police are checking whether Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and RC-transfer rules were ignored, potentially exposing gaps in India’s second-hand car market oversight.