J&K Police Chief Nalin Prabha on Saturday said that a blast inside the Nowgam police station that left nine people dead and 32 injured was accidental and ruled out any terror angle.
DGP said the cause for this unfortunate incident is being inquired into.
Addressing a presser in Srinagar, DGP said a huge quantity of explosive substances, chemicals and reagents were also recovered from Haryana’s Faridabad on November 9 and 10 during the investigations of an FIR registered at police station Nowgam.
“This recovery, like the rest of the recoveries which we have done, was transported and kept securely in the open area of the Nowgan police station. As part of the prescribed procedure, the samples of the recovery had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination,” DGP said.
He said that due to the voluminous nature of the recovery, this process has been going on for the past two days, which means yesterday and day before by the forensic team.
“Due to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery and the sampling process, the handling was being done with extreme caution, with utmost caution by the FSL team. However, unfortunately, during this course, last night around 11.20 pm, an accidental explosion took place. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary.,” DGP said.
He said in this unfortunate incident, nine people have lost their lives.
The slain included one personnel of State Investigation Agency (SIA), three personnel of the FSL, two photographers of J&K Police’s crime branch, two revenue officials who were part of the magistrate’s team and a tailor who was associated with the team.
“In addition, 27 police personnel, two revenue officials and three civilians from the adjacent areas have received injuries,” Prabhat said.
He added that the injured were immediately evacuated to the nearest hospital, where they are being treated.
“ The building of the police station has been very severely damaged, and even the adjacent buildings have suffered. They have also been affected. The extent of this damage is being ascertained,” DGP said, adding the cause for this unfortunate incident is being inquired into.
The Nowgam Police Station had last month registered a case, FIR number 162 related to Jaish-e-Mohammad threat posters, an investigation that eventually uncovered a major interstate terror module linked to the Red Fort blast case.
Explosives recovered during the probe were stored at the police station. The case of Jaish posters is now being probed by J&K police’s SIA.
