A powerful accidental blast ripped through the Nowgam police station on the outskirts of Srinagar late Friday night, killing six people and injuring 27 others. Officials said the explosion occurred while police and forensic teams were extracting samples from explosives seized in connection with the recently busted “white-collar” terror module.
According to news agency PTI, most of those killed and injured were policemen and forensic experts working on the ongoing investigation.
Officials said the blast happened as personnel were handling explosive material transported from Faridabad in Haryana. The cache was part of the 360 kilograms of explosives earlier recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie. Authorities were conducting testing and analysis when the explosion took place.
Six bodies have been recovered from the site and moved to the Police Control Room in Srinagar for identification. Among the 27 injured, 24 are police personnel and three are civilians receiving treatment in various hospitals.
The late-night explosion shattered the quiet of Nowgam and caused significant damage to the police station building. Officials said ongoing small, successive blasts in the aftermath delayed rescue operations by the bomb disposal squad. Emergency teams later managed to enter the scene once the area was deemed safe.
While some of the recovered explosives were stored at the police forensic lab, a large portion had been kept at the Nowgam police station, where the primary case related to the terror module had been registered.
White-Collar Terror Module Busted In Faridabad
The terror module came under suspicion in mid-October when threatening posters targeting police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam. Acting swiftly, Srinagar police registered a case on October 19 and formed a specialized team to investigate.
Frame-by-frame analysis of CCTV footage led to the identification and subsequent arrest of three suspects, Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid, who were all previously involved in stone-pelting cases. The trio was seen pasting the posters, according to investigators.
Their interrogation led police to arrest Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-preacher from Shopian, accused of supplying the posters and allegedly radicalising others in the medical community.
Following the leads, Srinagar Police traced the network to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed were taken into custody. Investigators seized a massive cache of chemicals from the site, including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulphur, key components used to make explosives.
According to police, the terror module was allegedly orchestrated by three key individuals: Dr Muzammil Ganaie (now arrested), Umar Nabi, who drove the explosives-laden car that blew up near Delhi’s Red Fort on November 10, and Muzzaffar Rather, who remains on the run.
The role of another arrested man, Dr Adeel Rather, the brother of the absconding Muzzaffar Rather, is still being investigated. Authorities recovered an AK-56 rifle from his possession.
