Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha chaired a high-level meeting with police and civil administration Saturday in the aftermath of the accidental blast at the Nowgam police station that killed nine people and injured 32, officials said.
At the meeting held at the Raj Bhavan here, Sinha was briefed about the steps taken to destroy the terror ecosystem in Kashmir.
The meeting was attended by Jammu and Kashmir Chief Secretary Atal Dullo, Home Secretary Chandraker Bharti, DGP Nalin Prabhat, Special DGP S J M Gillani, ADG CID Nitish Kumar, among others, the officials added.
Sinha has expressed deep anguish over the loss of lives and has ordered a probe to ascertain the exact cause of the blast.
The explosion occurred around 11:20 pm on Friday when a specialised team was extracting samples from a large and “unstable” cache of explosives confiscated in connection with an ongoing ‘white-collar’ terror module investigation.
A bulk of the explosives was stored securely in an open area at the Nowgam police station.
Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Nalin Prabhat and MHA Joint Secretary (Kashmir) Prashant Lokhande said the incident occurred while officials were handling samples of the large cache of explosives seized in connection with the Jaish-e-Mohammed ‘white-collar’ terror module case in Haryana’s Faridabad.