NSG dog gets COAS commendation for sniffing explosives during 2025 Red Fort area blast

New Delhi: Six-year-old NSG dog Donny, who sniffed explosives during the 2025 Red Fort area blast, has been named for the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Commendation Card on the occasion of the 80th Independence Day.

The male Labrador was inducted into the “Black Cats” commando force’s K9 (canine) unit in February 2022.A Ministry of Defence (MoD) statement issued on August 14 said Donny would be decorated with the honour.The blast took place near the 17th-century Mughal-era monument on November 10 last year, claiming the lives of 15 people and injuring several others.

The National Security Guard (NSG) said in a social media post on Monday that the four-legged soldier was deployed in the Red Fort area on November 10-11, 2025, to sanitise the VBIED (Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device)-hit blast site, where it “conclusively confirmed” the presence of explosives.

Subsequently, on November 12, Donny sanitised a vehicle suspected of transporting explosives linked to the Red Fort blast. According to the NSG, the vehicle was parked at Khandawali in Faridabad (Haryana), where Donny again confirmed the presence of explosives.It said the canine was awarded for “exceptional technical aptitude, reliability and operational performance”.