Blast at J-K police station while handling samples of explosives seized in Faridabad; 8 injured

An accidental explosion at the Nowgam police station in the outskirts of the city here late on Friday night injured at least eight personnel extracting samples from a massive cache of explosives recently seized in connection with the 'white-collar' terror module case, officials said.

They said the blast occurred while personnel were handling the explosive material that had been brought from Haryana's Faridabad.

The material, part of the 360 kilograms of explosives recovered from the rented residence of arrested doctor Muzammil Ganaie, was being sampled as part of the ongoing investigation, the officials said.

Ambulance and police sirens broke the silence of the night as the injured were rushed to a hospital.

Small successive explosions prevented immediate rescue operations by the bomb disposal squad. It was not immediately clear if the entire 360 kg of explosives was stored at the police station, where the primary case for the terror module was registered.

The entire conspiracy was unravelled after the posters threatening police and security forces appeared on walls in Bunpora, Nowgam, in mid-October. Treating the incident as a serious threat, the Srinagar police registered a case on October 19 and formed a dedicated team.

Meticulous, frame-by-frame analysis of CCTV footage led investigators to identify the first three suspects -- arrested Arif Nisar Dar alias Sahil, Yasir-ul-Ashraf and Maqsood Ahmad Dar alias Shahid. These three had cases of stone pelting registered against them, and they were seen pasting the posters.

Their interrogation led to the arrest of Maulvi Irfan Ahmad, a former paramedic turned Imam (preacher) from Shopian, who supplied the posters and is believed to have radicalised the doctors using his easy access to the medical community.

The trail ultimately led the Srinagar police to Al Falah University in Faridabad, where they arrested Dr Muzammil Ahmad Ganaie and Dr Shaheen Sayeed. It was here that the massive cache of chemicals, including ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate, and sulphur, was seized.

Investigators believe the entire module was run by a core trio of doctors -- Muzammil Ganaie (arrested), Umar Nabi (driver of the car laden with explosives that exploded near the Red Fort on November 10) and Muzzaffar Rather (absconding) The role of the eighth arrested person, Dr Adeel Rather -- the brother of the absconding Dr Muzzaffar Rather -- from whom an AK-56 rifle was seized, is still under investigation.