Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat said on Saturday morning that the blast at Nowgam police station the previous night was an accidental one caused by the presence of a large quantity of explosive substances that were “unstable”.
Nowgam police station was where explosives recovered from the terror module linked to the Red Fort blast in Delhi had been stored.
Confirming that at least nine people died, Prabhat said, “During the investigation in FIR number 162 of the year 2025 of PS Nowgam, a huge quantity of explosive substances, chemicals and reagents were also recovered from Faridabad on 9 and 10 November.”
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This recovery, he said, was kept in the open area of the police station. “As part of the procedure, the samples of the recovery had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination. On account of the voluminous nature of the recovery, this process was being carried out for the past two days — yesterday and day before — by the FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) team,” he said.
He attributed the blast to the “unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery”, and added that the sampling process and handling were being done with extreme caution by the FSL team. “However, unfortunately, during this course, last night around 11.20 pm, an accidental explosion took place.”
Terming any speculation into the cause of the incident as “unnecessary”, the police chief said the extent of the damage from the blast is being ascertained.
One member of the State Investigation Agency (SIA), three personnel of the FSL team, two crime scene photographers, two revenue officials who were part of the magistrate’s team, and one tailor who was associated with the team died in the blast at the police station. Additionally, 27 police personnel, two revenue officials and three civilians from adjacent areas were injured.
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“The injured were immediately evacuated to the nearest hospital, where they are being treated as we speak. The building of the police station has been very severely damaged, and even the adjacent buildings have suffered [damage],” DGP Prabhat said.
The Nowgam police station was at the centre of the investigation that led to the unravelling of the Jaish-e-Mohammad interstate terror module last week.
The police station was first involved in October, when some posters related to the Jaish-e-Mohammad appeared in the area. The probe into a seemingly local issue at first would lead police hundreds of kilometres away from the Valley, exposing the module.
As part of the raids to bust the module, the police had recovered more than 350 kg of ammonium nitrate. This was part of roughly 2,900 kg of suspected explosive material, which also included potash, phosphorus, reagents, inflammable material, electronic circuits, batteries, wires, remote controls, timers and metal sheets. The police have not said how much of this had been moved to Nowgam.
