Investigators probing the Delhi High Court blast were on Thursday looking for a car reported missing two years ago but spotted near the site minutes before a powerful bomb exploded, killing 12 people and injuring over 90.
A day after the bombing, security officials said the silver Santro DL9CA-6034, owned by the National Insurance Company, Daryaganj office, was reported missing in 2009.
The vehicle was spotted in the national capital Aug 26 when the driver of the car was fined for the violation of a traffic rule. However, traffic police did not realise then that it was a missing car, according to officials.
The car again surfaced mysteriously near the court complex around 10 a.m. Wednesday morning, some 15 minutes before the explosion.
In the evening, it was reported to have been seen near the T3 terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport.
Delhi residents Santosh Kumar, 50, and his son Ankush Sharma, 25, reported that they were driven to the airport from south Delhi's Bhikaji Cama Place in the car, said Rohit Katiyar, spokesperson of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
When they reached the airport, the driver, who identified himself as Air Force Wing Commander (retd) Naresh Jain, handed to them a small bag containing some clothes and told them to wait till he returned after parking his car.
But the man disappeared and is understood to have fled with the car, Katiyar told IANS.
After waiting for some time, the father-son narrated the incident to the CISF personnel, who look after security at the airport.
The CISF officials immediately called a bomb disposal sqad and started looking for the car in the vicinity of the airport complex, fearing that it may have been parked somewhere with explosives, said Katiyar. But the car was never traced.
The father-son duo have been handed over to Delhi Police for helping draw a sketch of the man who drove the car. Investigators don't rule out the possibility of the vehicle being used as a getaway car for the bombers.
