SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir DGP Nalin Prabhat on Saturday ruled out terror angle in Nowgam police station blast case that killed nine people.The top further said said nine people have lost their lives in the blast including three State Investigation Agency personnel, two crime photographers, two revenue officials and one tailor.
He called it an accidental blast and said any other speculation about the cause of the incident is unnecessary.The DGP said that during the investigation of FIR No. 162/2025 of PS Nowgam, a huge cache of explosive substances, chemicals, and reagents was also recovered from Faridabad on 9 and 10 November 2025. The recovery was transported and kept securely in the open area of the police station.“As part of the prescribed procedure, the samples of the recovery had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination,” the DGP added.Also read: CCTV shows exact moment ‘white-collar’ module explosives exploded inside Nowgam police station“On account of the voluminous recovery, the process was ongoing for two days by the FSL team. Owing to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, it was being handled with utmost caution. However, during this process, an accidental explosion took place at about 11:20 PM on 14 November 2025 (last night).Any other speculation about the cause of this incident is unnecessary.”He said that in this unfortunate incident, nine people lost their lives (1 SIA, 3 FSL personnel, 2 crime wing officials, 2 revenue officials, and 1 tailor who was associated with the team). In addition, 27 police personnel, 2 revenue officials, and 3 civilians were injured. The injured were immediately evacuated to the hospital.The building of the police station was severely damaged, and adjacent buildings were also affected. The extent of the damage is being ascertained.“The cause of this unfortunate incident is under investigation. J&K Police stands in solidarity with the families of the deceased in this hour of grief.”The blast occurred while a police and forensic team was examining explosive material seized from Faridabad, part of the 2,900 kg chemical cache recovered from an arrested doctor in the case.Local residents described the chaos and fear caused by the explosion. Shafad Ahmed said, “A loud blast occurred at about 11.20 pm last night. We were left shaken. We went to sleep later and found out about it this morning. We came here to see things on our own. But they are not letting us go to our relatives here. My relatives reside near the Police Station. I have not been able to speak with them. They (security personnel) are not letting us meet them, but they cannot help it either. I had never heard such a loud blast in my life.”Another local said, “My house is the third house from the site. We don’t have any information right now about the civilian casualties. All the houses in the vicinity have been damaged.”Officials said the blast occurred while investigators were handling explosive material brought from Faridabad in Haryana, linked to the ‘white-collar’ terror module.The explosives were part of the 360 kg recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie. Six unidentified bodies were retrieved from the blast site and shifted to the Police Control Room in Srinagar.Twenty-nine police personnel and three civilians were hospitalized with injuries as the late-night explosion damaged the police station and triggered emergency sirens. Officials said small successive explosions followed the main blast, slowing down rescue efforts by the bomb disposal squad.While some of the seized explosive material had been stored at the forensic lab, a major portion remained at the Nowgam police station, where the primary case is registered.
