SRINAGAR, Nov 15, 2025: Reinforcements rushed to the blast site and ambulances lined up outside Nowham police station in Srinagar on Friday evening. An explosion was reported earlier on November 15, 2025 at the police station in Srinagar. | Photo credit: IMRAN NISSAR
An accidental explosion rocked the Nowgam police station here, killing nine people and injuring 27, while authorities were taking samples from a large cache of explosives seized in the “employee” terror module case, officials said on Saturday.
In the incident on Friday evening, three people from the Forensic Science Laboratory, two from the Finance Ministry, including a Naib Tehsildar, two police photographers, a State Investigation Agency employee and a tailor were killed.
The blast occurred when the personnel were handling the explosive brought from Faridabad in Haryana, the officials said, adding that the blast was due to the unstable nature of the chemicals.
The material is part of the 360 kg of explosives that were found in the rented apartment of the arrested defendant Dr. Muzammil Ganaie were recovered, it was said.
The bodies were taken to the police control room here.
At least 24 police officers and three civilians were admitted to various hospitals in the city, the officials said.
The powerful explosion shattered the silence of the night and damaged the police station building. Small, successive explosions prevented immediate rescue operations by the bomb disposal squad.
While some of the recovered explosives were kept at the police forensic laboratory, most of the 360 kg explosives were stored at the police station where the main terror module case was registered.
The entire conspiracy was uncovered after posters threatening police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam in mid-October.
Considering the incident a serious threat, Srinagar police registered a case on October 19 and formed a special team.
A careful frame-by-frame analysis of the CCTV footage led investigators to identify and arrest the first three suspects – Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid. Cases of stone pelting were registered against these three and they were seen putting up the posters.
Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned imam (preacher) of Shopian. He delivered the posters and is said to have radicalized doctors through his easy access to the medical community.
The trail eventually led to Al-Falah University in Faridabad, where Srinagar police Dr. Ganaie and Dr. Shaheen Sayeed arrested. This is where the huge stockpile of chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and sulfur, was confiscated.
Investigators believe that the entire module was led by a core trio of doctors: Ganaie, Umar Nabi (the driver of the explosives-laden car that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10) and Muzzaffar Rather (fugitive).
The role of the eighth person arrested, Dr. Adeel Rather, the brother of the fugitive Dr. Muzzaffar Rather, from whom an AK-56 rifle was seized, is still under investigation.
Published on November 15, 2025