Nine people died because nearly three tons of unstable explosives were wrongly stored in an open police station area. A routine inspection triggered the blast. This tragedy was avoidable — pure negligence.
On Friday night, November 14th, a massive explosion tore through the Nowgam police station in Srinagar. Nine people lost their lives, and 29 others were injured. The blast was so powerful that people living 30 kilometers away could hear it. Within moments, the police station and several vehicles nearby were engulfed in flames. Ambulances and fire trucks rushed to the scene just before midnight, while senior officers blocked all roads leading to the area. But here’s what makes this tragedy even more heartbreaking — this wasn’t a terrorist attack. This was an explosion caused by the very evidence that police had seized to keep people safe.
On Saturday morning, Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat confirmed what many had feared — the blast was accidental, caused by a large quantity of explosive substances that were “unstable”. Think about that word for a moment. Unstable. That means these explosives were dangerously unpredictable, yet they were being stored at a regular police station where people worked every day.
The list of victims tells you everything you need to know about how wrong this was. One member of the State Investigation Agency died. Three personnel from the Forensic Science Laboratory team lost their lives. Two crime scene photographers were killed. Two revenue officials who were part of the magistrate’s team died. Even a tailor who was associated with the team was among the dead. These weren’t soldiers in a war zone. They were professionals doing their jobs, following procedures, trusting that the system would keep them safe. Additionally, 27 police personnel, two revenue officials, and three civilians from nearby areas were injured in the blast.
The explosion happened at the exact spot where massive quantities of explosives, recovered during the Red Fort terror case investigation, were being stored. We’re not talking about a small amount here. Police had seized nearly 2,900 kilograms of explosive material from raids conducted in Faridabad, Haryana, and Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh. This haul included over 350 kilograms of ammonium nitrate — the same chemical used in some of the deadliest bomb attacks around the world — along with potash, phosphorus, other dangerous chemicals, inflammable items, circuits, batteries, wires, remote controls, timers, and metal sheets. Essentially, everything you need to build powerful bombs.
Now pause and think about this for a moment. All of this deadly material was being kept in the open area of a police station. Not in a specialized storage facility. Not in a secure bunker designed to handle explosives. Not even in a properly sealed room. Just out in the open, at a regular police station where officers work, where people come to file complaints, where daily police business happens.
Sources say the blast occurred during an inspection. A magistrate and a team from the Forensic Science Laboratory had arrived to collect samples of the seized material for testing — a standard legal procedure. Something went terribly wrong during this process, and the unstable explosives detonated. The result? Nine lives lost, dozens injured, and a police station destroyed.
The Nowgam police station had become the center of a major investigation that uncovered a dangerous Jaish-e-Mohammad terror module operating across multiple states. It all started in October when Jaish-e-Mohammad posters appeared in the Nowgam area. What initially seemed like a small, localized issue quickly grew into something much bigger. Police investigations led them hundreds of kilometers away from Kashmir, and they discovered an entire terror network.
Three doctors involved in this module were arrested — one from Faridabad and two from Saharanpur. A fourth member, Umar Nabi, who was allegedly behind the Red Fort blast, managed to escape. During raids on the accused doctors’ locations, police recovered this enormous cache of bomb-making materials. And all of it ended up at Nowgam police station.
Here’s where we need to ask some serious, uncomfortable questions. Why was such a massive quantity of highly explosive material kept at a regular police station? Why was it stored in an open area instead of a secure, specialized facility? Who made the decision to keep nearly three tons of unstable bomb-making materials in a place where police officers and civilians come and go every day? And why wasn’t this material immediately transferred to experts who know how to safely handle and dispose of explosives?
In India, we have organizations like the National Security Guard (NSG) and bomb disposal squads specifically trained to deal with explosives. We have protocols for handling seized explosive materials. There are guidelines about where such dangerous evidence should be kept and how it should be examined. So why were these procedures not followed? Why were so many lives put at risk?
The officers and officials who died in this blast were doing their duty. They were following whatever instructions they had been given. The FSL team members were there to do scientific analysis. The photographers were documenting evidence. The revenue officials were carrying out their legal responsibilities. But someone, somewhere in the chain of command, made a catastrophic error in judgment. Keeping explosive materials in an open area is not just careless — it’s reckless. It shows a dangerous lack of understanding about the nature of what was being stored.
The DGP himself admitted these explosives were unstable. That means they were even more dangerous than normal explosives. Ammonium nitrate doesn’t need much to explode. Heat, friction, contamination, or even improper handling can trigger a deadly reaction. Mix it with the other chemicals and materials that were stored alongside it, and you’re essentially sitting on a massive bomb. An unstable one.
This tragedy raises serious concerns about how evidence is handled in terror-related cases across the country. If this can happen in a high-profile case being investigated by senior officers in a sensitive area like Srinagar, what’s happening in smaller towns and cities? How many other police stations are storing dangerous materials without proper safety measures? How many other officers and civilians are unknowingly at risk?
Nine families lost their loved ones in this explosion. Twenty-nine people suffered injuries, some possibly life-changing. A police station was destroyed. All of this could have been prevented. All of this should have been prevented. When police seize explosives from terrorists, the goal is to save lives, not put more lives in danger. But that’s exactly what happened here.
We need accountability. We need answers about who authorized this storage arrangement, why safety protocols were ignored, and what steps will be taken to ensure this never happens again. We need immediate audits of how explosive materials are being stored at police stations across India. We need mandatory training for officers handling such evidence. And we need strict enforcement of safety guidelines — not just on paper, but in practice.
The Nowgam explosion is a wake-up call. It reminds us that sometimes the biggest threat isn’t from terrorists plotting attacks — it’s from our own failure to follow basic safety procedures. Those nine people who died deserved better. The officers who risk their lives every day to protect us deserve better. And every citizen who trusts the system to keep them safe deserves better. Evidence is supposed to put criminals behind bars, not blow up police stations. It’s time we treated it that way.
(Girish Linganna is an award-winning science communicator and a Defence, Aerospace & Geopolitical Analyst. He is the Managing Director of ADD Engineering Components India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany)
(Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own and do not reflect those of DNA)
