The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Saturday dismissed claims of a Pakistan-based terror group’s involvement in the Nowgam police station blast, saying the massive explosion was “accidental”.
An explosion ripped through the police station in Nowgam on Friday night, leaving nine dead and at least 32 others injured.
The Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police, Nalin Prabhat, ruled out sabotage as the cause of the incident, saying the “accidental blast occurred despite all precautions being taken” while sampling explosives that had been recovered during investigation in the “white collar terror module” case from Haryana’s Faridabad.
After being brought to the Nowgam police station, the explosives were kept securely in an open area in its premises, he added.
“As part of the prescribed 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, the FSL (forensic science laboratory) team has been carrying out this process for the last two days,” Prabhat told reporters.
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The DGP said that due to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, the FSL team was conducting the sampling process and its handling with utmost caution.
“Unfortunately during this course, around 11.20 pm last night, an accidental explosion took place. Any other speculation into the cause of this incident is unnecessary,” he stated.
The top cop confirmed that nine people had lost their lives in the explosion.
“One personnel of SIA (State Investigation Agency), three personnel of the FSL team, two crime photographers, two revenue officials who were part of the magistrate’s team, and one tailor who was associated with the team, were among those killed,” the DGP said.
He said 27 police personnel, two revenue officials, and three civilians from the adjacent had sustained injuries in the incident.
“The injured were immediately evacuated to the nearest hospital, where they are being treated. The police station building has been severely damaged, and even the adjacent buildings have been affected,” he informed.
The extent of the damage due to the explosion is being ascertained, and the cause for “this unfortunate incident” is being inquired into, Prabhat added.
The DGP said the police stands in solidarity with the families of the deceased in this hour of grief.
Explosives transported to Kashmir from Faridabad in pickup truck
The huge cache of explosives which exploded at the Nowgam police station was brought from Haryana's Faridabad in a Tata 407 pickup truck in small bags and was being examined by experts when the "accident" took place, said a top official.
The blast occurred when a specialised team was extracting samples from the large and "unstable" cache of explosives, according to the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
Investigators were still trying to find out the possible targets of the terror module which was collecting a huge amount of explosives, some of which exploded near the Red Fort here and killed 13 people on November 10, he said.
The explosives were confiscated from Faridabad during raids on November 9-10 and later transported to Kashmir in a Tata 407 vehicle in small bags following full protocol, the top official said.
On the reason behind transporting the explosives to Nowgam, the official said the original case was registered at the Nowgam police station and the explosives were the case property of that police station. Hence, there was a need to transport the explosives so far.
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