9 dead, 32 hurt in J&K police station blast during probe into Faridabad explosives

A powerful accidental blast ripped through the Nowgam police station in Srinagar late Friday night, jolting the quiet valley awake and leaving devastation in its wake.

Nine people were killed and 32 others — largely policemen and forensic specialists — suffered severe injuries when an explosion erupted as teams were extracting samples from a major cache of explosives tied to the unfolding ‘white-collar’ terror module, officials said on Saturday.

Rescue teams worked through the night, retrieving eight bodies from the debris as the injured were rushed to hospitals across Srinagar. The identities of the deceased are being painstakingly established. The bodies were later moved to the police control room in Srinagar for formal procedures.

According to officials, the tragedy struck as personnel were handling explosive material brought from Faridabad in Haryana — part of the staggering 360 kgs of chemicals recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie. Small, successive explosions that followed the main blast crippled early rescue efforts and inflicted severe damage on the police station building.

While a portion of the recovered explosives had already been secured at the police forensic laboratory, the bulk of the cache was housed at the Nowgam police station, where the principal case related to the terror module is registered.

This chilling chain of events traces its origins to mid-October, when posters threatening security forces mysteriously appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam. Treating the development as a grave threat, Srinagar Police registered a case on 19 October and constituted a special team. What followed was a meticulous investigation that unfolded like scenes from a thriller.

Frame-by-frame analysis of CCTV footage led investigators to the first three suspects — Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf, and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid — all previously involved in stone-pelting cases. The trio were spotted pasting the threatening posters. Their interrogation cracked open the door to a wider, darker conspiracy.

The trail next led to Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic-turned-preacher from Shopian. Investigators believe he not only supplied the inflammatory posters but also used his position within the medical community to radicalise young doctors.

The investigation’s path then stretched hundreds of kilometres to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where police arrested Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed. Here, authorities uncovered the enormous cache of explosive chemicals — ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, sulphur — that now sits at the heart of the deadly blast.

According to officials, the sprawling terror module was orchestrated by a core trio of doctors: Dr Muzammil Ganaie (arrested), Dr Umar Nabi — believed to be the driver of the explosive-laden car that detonated near the Red Fort on 10 November — and Dr Muzzaffar Rather, who remains on the run. The role of the eighth arrested man, Dr Adeel Rather, brother of the absconding Muzzaffar, is under scrutiny after an AK-56 rifle was recovered from his possession.

What began as scribbled threats on the walls of Nowgam has now unfurled into one of the most unsettling terror plots uncovered in recent years — a network of educated professionals, chemical stockpiles stretching across states, and a tragedy that cost lives of those who stood on the frontlines of the investigation.

With PTI/IANS inputs