New Delhi: The accidental explosion at the Nowgam police station in Srinagar Friday occurred when lac-seal was being applied on sacks of incendiary material, according to the accounts of two policemen injured in the blast, ThePrint has learnt.
Lacquer seal is a traditional method used by law enforcement agencies in India to secure seized items such as contraband, documents, cash or any other evidence. The resin-based wax is melted, using a small flame, to apply it on the opening of the seized item. It is them stamped with the official logo.
The explosion, which killed at least nine people and injured dozens more, ripped through the police station that has been at the centre of crackdown on an inter-state ‘white collar’ terror module. It was at this station that J&K Police, after raiding two houses where operatives of the terror module in Haryana’s Faridabad, had stored the incendiary material recovered in the operation.
The terror module, including Kashmiri doctors based in Faridabad, were allegedly behind the blast near Red Fort in New Delhi on 10 November.
Questions about protocol
The explosion at the police station has raised concerns about storage and handling of incendiary material by law enforcement agencies.
A similar blast was reported in Odisha in September 2021, when explosives material stored at the Balanga police station in Puri went up in flames, causing the building to collapse. No casualties were reported, but the incident prompted Odisha Police to issue a circular banning the storage of explosives in stations.
“Explosive materials, corrosive substances and highly inflammable materials should not be kept ordinarily in the police station malkhana. In extreme cases, if it is necessary to keep those articles in the malkhana, the same shall be done only after due examination by bomb disposal squad or other specialised agencies with necessary precautions,” the state police’s Crime Branch had said in its updated circular to all district police chiefs.
An officer familiar with the Odisha SOP told ThePrint that storing explosives in large quantities does not add to the value of evidence during trial proceedings in any case. Instead, it poses a security threat to police personnel at the site, he said.
“The quantity of recovery does not bring too much value to the evidence in a particular case. It should be destroyed immediately after taking a sample at the same spot of recovery. The bomb squad, which will assist in sample collection as well as the destruction of explosives, issues certificates validating the nature and quantity of explosives, and these are admissible in the court of law,” the Odisha Police officer explained.
He added that storing incendiary material is a “security threat” And must be banned.
The Petroleum and Explosives Safety Organisation (PESO), which regulates storage and handling of incendiary materials in India, says that such items must only be kept in good condition-licensed magazines. Stacks of boxes with explosives should be kept at least 60cm apart, and lightning conductors on magazines must be tested annually to check their resistance (below 10 ohms) and quality.
PESO guidelines also say that stacks of explosives in a magazine should not exceed the height of 2.5 metres. Any transport of explosives should be done only in vehicles that are roadworthy and mechanically sound. And every such van must carry two fire extinguishers, it says.
Could it be the wax?
The 2,900kg of seized explosives and ammunition by J&K Police included over 2,000kg of ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate, ThePrint reported earlier, is a commonly available fertiliser that can be combined with fuel to make an improvised explosive device (IED). But it doesn’t always need fuel to go up in flames.
A 2015 US government advisory says that purer forms of ammonium nitrate are usually stable, but any contamination increases the compound’s sensitivity. Heat, storage space and contact with other items, including wax, it said, could trigger explosions.
“…AN (ammonium nitrate) is capable of detonation, explosive decomposition, or explosive reaction when exposed to a strong initiating source or when confined at high temperature. AN explosions occur more readily when fuels or sensitising contaminants are present,” the advisory read.
Also Read: Red Fort blast echoes 2011 Delhi HC bombing—’white-collar’ terror cell, doctors & Jaish footprint
Citing an example, it said that two cargo vehicles carrying ammonium nitrate in Texas exploded in 1947 because the compound had been manufactured with a “wax coating and stored in paper bags”.
“The wax was one potential source of fuel that could have reacted with the AN, creating an explosive situation,” the advisory said, pointing out that the second explosion was likely because a fire was caused by the first one.
Ammonium nitrate, when it burns, also releases nitrogen oxides, which can further fuel explosions.
Inquiry ordered
J&K Director General of Police (DGP) Nalin Prabhat Saturday said the explosion was accidental and occurred when the forensic sciences laboratory (FSL) team was collecting samples from the seizures.
Prashant Lokhande, Joint Secretary at the Ministry of Home Affairs, told journalists in New Delhi Saturday that “huge cache of explosive substances, chemicals and reagents” were recovered from Faridabad raids on 9 and 10 November.
“The recovery was transported and kept securely in the open area of the Nowgam PS. As part of the prescribed procedure, the samples of the recovery had to be forwarded for further forensic and chemical examination,” he said.
Lokhande said due to the “voluminous” seizure, the process of examination had been going on for two days by the FSL team.
“Owing to the unstable and sensitive nature of the recovery, it was being handled with utmost caution. However, during the same, an accidental explosion took place at about 11:20 pm on 14.11.2025,” he said.
The Joint Secretary added that an inquiry had been ordered into the police station explosion, though more details were yet to be provided.
Videos of the Nowgam explosion show that the fire spread to vehicles and neighbouring houses. A personnel from the police’s state investigation agency (SIA), three members of the FSL team, two of the crime wing of police, two revenue officials and a tailor were killed in the blast.