Kulgam/Tral, Nov 15: Arshad Ahmad Shah, 33, spent six years documenting the aftermath of violence as a crime photographer with the Jammu and Kashmir Police’s Crime Branch. On Friday night, he became part of the tragedy he had so often recorded.

Nine people were killed and 27 others injured -most of them policemen and forensic specialists when a powerful accidental explosion tore through the Nowgam police station on the outskirts of Srinagar.

Among the dead were two revenue officials, a civilian tailor and two police crime photographers.

For Shah’s family, at Chancer village of Kulgam, the loss reopened wounds that had barely begun to heal.

A few years ago, they buried his elder brother, who died in a road accident. Since then, Shah had been the only son of his ageing parents- his fathe

See Full Page