The Editorial Page: Red Fort blast reminds us that war against terror will never end 10 WEDNESDAY, NOvEMBEr 12, 2025 JouRnalISm of CouRage MuMBAI, LATE CITy, 24 PAGES ₹5.00 l www.indianexpress.com DA I Ly F r O M : A H M E DA B A D , C H A N D I GA r H , D E L H I , J A I P u r , KO L K ATA , Lu C K N O W , M u M B A I , N AG P u r , PAT N A , P u N E , VA D O DA r A reg.No. mcS/067/2018 - 20 rNi regN. No. 1543/57 happening today lMiNiStry of StAtiSticS and Programme Implementation will release retail inflation data for October. Several economists see inflation dropping below 0.5%, which would be a record low. lPriMe MiNiSter MoDi, who is in Bhutan, will meet former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck and also participate in the Global Peace Prayer Festival. leAM S jAiShANkAr will visit Canada to participate in the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with Outreach Partners. lSuPreMe court will hear pleas in connection with air pollution in Delhi-NCr. The Commission for Air Quality Management is expected to respond in the matter. Business as Usual By EP UNNY All responsible will be brought to justice: PM express News Service New Delhi, November 11 Declaring that investigativeagencieswillunearththe “conspiracy” behind the blast near Delhi’s red Fort, which has claimed nine lives so far, Prime Minister narendra Modi said tuesday that the perpetrators “will not be spared” and “all those responsible will be brought to justice”. the Prime Minister’s remarks were echoed by home Minister amit Shah and Defence Minister rajnath Singh who said those behind Monday’s incident will “facethefull wrath”ofagenciesthatareconducting a “swift and thorough” investigation. Modi’s reference to a “conspiracy” was the first public indication by the country’s top leadership of a terror plot linked to the blast. the Prime Minister was speaking in Bhutan’s capital thimphu,whereheisonatwoday visit during which he will join the 70th birthday celebrations of the nation's former »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 12/11/2025 106 134 166 84 l DAy After exPloSioN NeAr reD fort, iNVeStiGAtorS focuS oN uSe of AMMoNiuM NitrAte Car blast probe tracks doctors, Faridabad-Pulwama terror link Officials say bigger attack may have been averted; many held as investigation zeroes in on Pulwama Bashaarat Masood & Varinder Bhatia Pulwama, Chandigarh, November 11 the ProBe into the red Fort blast so far suggests it was the handiwork of the same “transnational and interstate” terror module that was busted by the Jammu and Kashmir Police days earlier, with roots in the valley’s Pulwama district, it is learnt. according to highly placed sources in the police forces of three states, the man who was driving the hyundai i20 that exploded is suspected to be Dr Umar nabi (36), a resident of Pulwama and an employee of Faridabad’s al Falah School of Medical Sciences & research centre. investigators say two other members of this module — Dr Muzammil ahmad ganai (32), who hails from Pulwama and was also working at al Falah, and Dr adeel Majeed rather (33) from Qazigund, who was working at a private hospital in Saharanpur — were arrested daysbeforetheblast.Policehad also seized 358 kg of explosives, suspectedtobeammoniumnitrate, from ganai’s rented home in Faridabad’s Dhauj village. Police sources said they believe Dr Umar went missing around the time of these arrests. they said he is suspected to be the man caught on footagefromseveralcctvsdriving the i20 before the blast, which killed nine people and left many more injured. Bashaarat Masood & Ankita upadhyay Pulwama, New Delhi, November 11 on noveMBer 7, three days before an i20 car exploded near thered Fort,DrUmar-un-nabi Bhat,themansaidtobedriving the vehicle, called his sister-inlaw in Pulwama to say that he would return home in three days. on Monday night, as the family in Koil village of PulwamawaitedforUmar’sreturn, policeshowedupandaskedfor his brother Zahoor illahi. they took him away, only to return sometime later to take away his elder brother ashiq hussain. the Bhats said they were not givenanyreason.Umar’sfather ghulam nabi Bhat was picked up for questioning while his At a polling booth in Jahanabad district on Tuesday. ExPrESS himanshu harsh & Asad rehman Patna, New Delhi, November 11 Bihar recorDeD its highest ever voter turnout of 68.76% in the second and final phase of polling for the assembly elections tuesday, even as the exit polls unanimously predicted a comfortable victory for the incumbent nDa. the turnout figure surpassed all previous polling recordsinBiharsince1951,accordingtotheelectioncommission (ec). the first phase of polling, held on november 6 across 18 districts, had then set a record of 65.08% voter turnout. in the two phases, Bihar registered an overall turnout of 66.92%, with the participation ‘Bigger attack averted’ topsourcesfromcentralsecurity agencies said they »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 The car driver: Umar Nabi, doctor who led ‘white-collar’ group mother was taken away, reportedly for Dna sampling. PolicesuspectUmarwasthe leader of the “white-collar group” of doctors in a terror module busted days before the red Fort explosion. “he is suspected to have been steering and motivating the rest of the flock,” an officer said. Umar’s sister-in-law Muzamila akhtar said, “We didn’t know anything. We came to know about him (Umar) only when the media arrived here this morning.” Police sources said Umar had been missing after Dr Muzammil ahmad ganai was arrested from Faridabad. akhtar said a police team, led by a Superintendent of Police and his deputy, arrived at their home Monday night. A victim’s relative breaks down outside a mortuary in New Delhi. PTI l more rePorTS, PAge 16, 17 PuLWamatoFaRidabadtoRedFoRt:the‘moduLe’ Dr uMAr NABi Suspected i20 driver workeD At Al Falah, Faridabad Dr ADeel MAjeeD rAther Dr ShAheeN ShAhiD workeD At Dr ganai was suspected to have used her car, from which a rifle was seized workeD At Al Falah, Faridabad r/o Lucknow Famous Hospital, Saharanpur r/o Qazigund, J&K r/o Koil village, Pulwama, J&K Pulwama Dr MuzAMMil AhMAD GANAi workeD At Al Falah, Faridabad r/o Koil village, Pulwama, J&K Saharanpur aS Political parties gear up for the upcoming civic polls — likely to be held in January 2026, the Brihanmumbai Municipal corporation (BMc) on tuesday carried out lottery of the seats for reservation, which turned out to be lucky for Shiv AGeNcy NDA Dainik Bhaskar MGB 145-160 73-91 Times Now-JVC 135-150 88-103 IANS-Matrize 147-167 70-90 P-Marq 142-162 80-98 News18 140-150 85-95 level of male and female voters standing at 62.8% and 71.6% respectively.thecountingofvotes will take place on november 14. in the 2020 assembly polls, the state had recorded a turnout of 57.29%. all the exit polls, which declared their projections tuesday evening, gave the nDa »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 Trump: Will bring down tariffs on India, ‘pretty close’ to reaching deal Red Fort Faridabad Lucknow A plumber; the i20 car was bought with his documents r/o Samboora, Pulwama, J&K (His brother also detained) »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 Probe into Mumbra BJP & Sena UBT lose 30% of seats, train accident doesn’t while Shinde Sena emerges lucky back backpack theory MUMBAI, NOVEMBER 11 l Whatexitpollssay AAMir rAShiD BMc wArD reSerVAtioN lottery Pratip Acharya & Nayonika Bose Bihar second phase sees record turnout of 68.76%; exit polls predict NDA return Sena led by Deputy chief Minister eknath Shinde. While the Shiv Sena (UBt) and BJP had over 30 per cent of the incumbent corporators affiliated to them, losing their seats to reservation, Shinde’s Senawasmorefortunateasonly 9 or 15 per cent of their sitting seats went for reservation. the lottery was held for all the 227 seats in Mumbai, out of which, 61werereservedforotherBack- ward class (oBc), 15 were reservedforScheduledcastes(Sc) and two were reserved for the Scheduled tribe (St). the previous civic election took place in 2017. When the term of the elected representatives ended on March 7, 2022, out of the 227 total corporators in the BMc, 88 were from the Shiv Sena (undivided), 80 from the BJP, 31 from the congress, »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 Sadaf Modak Mumbai, November 11 the ProtrUDing backpack at the centre of the Mumbra train accident case was not found during the probe, the government railway Police (grP) told the sessions court in thane on tuesday, countering the central railway (cr) September report that blamed a commuter’s bag on the overcrowded train for the death of five passengers on June 9. the two cr engineers named in the Fir, who have soughtanticipatorybail,intheir response, said that railway officialsareinvolvedin24X7maintenanceworkonthetracks,and no omission on their part had caused the accident. the »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 uS President Donald Trump congratulates Sergio gor after he is sworn in as Ambassador to india, at the oval office. AP rAVi DuttA MiShrA New Delhi, November 11 USPreSiDentDonaldtrump tuesday said the US will bring down tariffs on india, and that Washington is “pretty close” to reachinga“fairtradedeal”with new Delhi. india currently faces 50 per cent tariffs, the highest on any country globally, primarilydueto the‘penalty’ duty of 25 per cent for purchasing russian oil. “right now, the tariffs are very high on india because of therussianoil,andthey[india] »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2 E. exPLained The final lap India and the US have commenced working on the text for the draft trade agreement. New Delhi believes there is no need for another round of talks. Given that almost 25% of the tariffs on India is due to oil purchases from Russia, the government hopes final tariffs will not be more than 15-20%. firST STeP iN ThiS DirecTioN coulD PoSSibly be A ViJAy hAzAre TroPhy gAme NexT moNTh Board’s message for Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma: Domestic first, then India Devendra Pandey tion could possibly be a vijay hazare trophy game starting on December 24. this is the iF tWo of indian cricket's only one-day game in the dobrightest stars have to stay in mestic calendar between the the team, they will have to three-oDi series against South maketheirwaythroughthedo- africa from December 3-9 and mestic grind. another three-match series this is the messagainstnewZealand Page 1 age from the indian from January 11 — board for virat Kohli both at home. and rohit Sharma. The Indian Both have retired from tests Express has learnt that rohit and t20 internationals but has informed the Mumbai continue to represent the cricket association (Mca) that country in one-Day interna- he will be available for the vijay tionals. hazare trophy but there is no the first step in this direc- clarity on virat’s availability. Mumbai, November 11 anchor virat (37) and rohit (38) last featured in the oDi series in australia last month, where they went on to join hands for a winning partnership in the finalgame.While rohit starred in two of the three games, including a hundred, Kohli bounced back from two ducks to hit an unbeaten 87. “the board and team management have conveyed to bothofthemthattheywillhave to play domestic cricket if they want to play for india. Since both of them have retired from two formats, they have to play domestic cricket to be match- Virat and rohit have retired from Tests and T20 internationals but continue to represent the country in one-Day internationals. FILE fit,” sources in the board told The Indian Express. rohit and Kohli retired from t20is after the t20 World cupin2024,andcalledtimeon their test careers after the 2024-25 tour of australia. rohit is learnt to have informed the Mca that he might even be available for the t20 Syed Mushtaq ali tournament, scheduled to start on november 26, subject to Mumbai’s qualification. he has also been practising at Mumbai’s Sharad Pawar indooracademy. the indian board is hoping to see Kohli, who lives in london, play domestic cricket too. ajit agarkar, chairman of the selection committee, had conveyed last month about the need for players to turn out in domestic cricket. “i think we made it clear a year, or a couple of years back, thatwheneverplayersareavailable,theyshouldbeplayingdomestic cricket. i mean, that’s the only way you’ll keep yourself sharp and playing cricket, if you’ve got a long enough break. Whether that’s possible with the international cricket you’re playing or not, that only time will tell, but if the guys are free, theyshouldbeplayingdomestic cricket,” he said. rohit and virat played one ranji trophy game each last season. in January, Kohli turned up for Delhi after 12 years,whilerohitturnedupfor a Mumbai game after 10 years. at the time, rohit, explaining the long absence from domestic cricket, had said: “...since i have started playing test cricket regularly, which is from2019, youhave hardly had any time. When you play so much international cricket throughout the year, you need »coNtiNueD oN PAGe 2