A year after the deadly blast near Delhi’s Red Fort claimed 12 lives, the families of those killed are still struggling to rebuild their lives, grappling with financial uncertainty, the absence of loved ones and questions about justice.
For some, the loss has meant leaving the Capital and returning to their villages for support. Others are trying to ensure their children have a future, even as they struggle to come to terms with a tragedy that has permanently altered their lives. Some of those arrested were allegedly linked to Al-Falah University in Faridabad , where they either worked or taught.
By December last year, the agency arrested 11 people for allegedly conspiring and providing support to Nabi.
Kumar, a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) conductor, was the sole breadwinner for the family. “I could not manage alone in the city. I had no help from Ashok’s family either. They don’t even ask how my children and I are doing. She has saved the remaining amount for her children’s future. Dinesh Mishra’s brother, Guddu, has similarly put aside the compensation for his two minor daughters. Dinesh worked at a wedding card shop in Chawri Bazar, while his wife and children lived in their village in Ganeshpur, Uttar Pradesh. He first worked alongside his father at a motor repair shop before taking charge of the family’s cosmetic shop when his elder brother developed kidney problems.
For Ashok Kumar’s wife, Sonam Devi, 26, the tragedy meant leaving Delhi and moving back to her parents’ home in Amroha, Uttar Pradesh. Of the ₹ 10 lakh compensation she received from the Delhi government, she said ₹ 5 lakh was taken by Ashok’s family. Guddu has brought Dinesh’s 13-year-old son to Delhi and enrolled him in a boarding school in west Delhi. For 50-year-old Imraan, from Uttar Pradesh’s Shamli district, the loss of his 21-year-old son Noman came when his elder son was already undergoing a kidney transplant. Noman had dropped out of school after Class 9 to support the family.
I moved to my parents’ house in April,” she said. “I’ll ensure he studies well,” he said.
The November 10, 2025, explosion took place at the junction in front of Red Fort. Investigations later found that Umar-un-Nabi, a doctor originally from Jammu and Kashmir , was allegedly inside the explosives-laden vehicle. A day later, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) registered a case.
