Delhi blast toll 13; PM says conspirators ‘will not be spared’

The conspirators of the Delhi blast will not be spared as the probe agencies will get to the bottom of the case, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Tuesday, as the death toll in the explosion rose to 13.
“Our agencies will get to the bottom of this conspiracy. The perpetrators behind it will not be spared,” Modi said in an address at a public event in Bhutanese capital Thimphu.
The probe into the deadly car blast near the Red Fort was on Tuesday handed over to the NIA as investigators zeroed in on a doctor from Pulwama in south Kashmir with suspected links to an inter-state “white collar” terror module.
Dr Umar Nabi was driving the i20 car that exploded on Monday evening and is believed to be one of the 12 people killed, officials said.
Jammu and Kashmir police took a DNA sample from his mother to match with the parts found at the scene of the blast, an official said in Srinagar.
Delhi government has announced an ex-gratia of Rs 10 lakh to kin of deceased, Rs 5 lakh to those permanently disabled and Rs 2 lakh to those injured.
After two security review meetings, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said he has instructed security agencies to hunt down each and every culprit behind the Delhi blast–the first attack in the national capital after 13 years.
Officials involved in investigations said they did not rule out the possibility of the explosives in the car getting detonated accidentally as Umar may have panicked.
It has emerged during investigations that Umar waited in the Sunehri Masjid parking lot near the Red Fort for nearly three hours while scouring the internet about updates regarding his associates’ arrest in Faridabad.
The investigators have also managed to establish an 11-hour trail of Umar’s vehicle.
There was no clarity yet on how many people were in the car during the blast. While initially there were claims that there were three people, another account said only Umar, who was on the run after the busting of the Faridabad terror module, was the lone occupant.