The explosion that shook Delhi and the entire country on Monday, killing and injuring several people, was not an accident. It was the visible tip of a concealed network, a meticulously planned but poorly executed terror operation that slipped through the cracks of India’s urban vigilance. Investigative findings reveal that the i20 car, packed with crude explosives, had been parked at the Red Fort parking lot for over three hours ~ from 3.19 p.m. to 6.48 p.m. Minutes later, a masked man identified as Dr Umar U. Nabi was seen driving it slowly towards the traffic light at Netaji Subhash Marg, where it detonated. The Red Fort may not have been the intended target; nearby Chandni Chowk, the capital’s most crowded shopping hub, offered a far greater potential for carnage.

The device, unstable and amateurishly assembled, may have exploded prematurely. The unravelling of this plot has led investigators to a startling realization. This was not the work of desperate........

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