Three held, 683 kg of banned firecrackers worth ₹35 lakh seized in Delhi’s Budh Vihar

Three people were arrested and around 683 kg of banned firecrackers worth ₹35 lakh was seized from Delhi’s Budh Vihar area on Thursday, police said.

The accused were allegedly involved in illegally storing and transporting the prohibited firecrackers, with a car and scooter also seized.

The district’s special staff team in-charge Sandeep Godara conducted a raid along with his team members after receiving credible information about the illegal firecrackers, deputy commissioner of police (Rohini) Shashank Jaiswal said.

“Three people were apprehended while they were loading prohibited firecrackers from a godown into a Hyundai Santro car and on a scooter. A case was registered and the three were arrested,” Jaiswal added.

Police identified the three arrested men as Chand (49), Ram Kumar (47), and Ravi (35), all residents of Rohini in northwest Delhi. Chand is a building construction material supply contractor, while the other two men are his employees, a police officer said.

“Their interrogation revealed that the consignment of the banned firecrackers was procured from a factory in Haryana’s Rohtak. We have issued a notice to the factory owner, seeking explanation on the supply of the banned crackers into Delhi. The owner has also been asked to join our investigation,” the officer said.

According to the officer, Chand disclosed that he produced the firecrackers over a month and a half before Diwali. “He had planned to sell the firecrackers well in advance on double or triple the actual rate for maximum profit gain,” the officer added.

A first information report (FIR) was registered under sections 223 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 228 (fabricating false evidence), and 3 (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and section 9(B) of the Explosives Act at the Bush Vihar police station.