Ahead of Diwali, police arrested five people in three separate operations and seized over 1,400 kg of firecrackers in the national capital, officials said on Wednesday. The operations were carried out by police teams of northwest, southeast and south districts, they said.
Police said on Tuesday around 10 pm, received information regarding the sale of illegal firecrackers in Kanhaiya Nagar. Following this, police nabbed Mohit Gupta (22), a resident of Kanhaiya Nagar in Tri Nagar, for carrying a bag full of firecrackers, they said.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (northwest) Usha Rangnani said Gupta disclosed that he came there to deliver the firecrackers to a client. He further informed that he had purchased these firecrackers in bulk last year from a dealer in Ghaziabad and stored them in his house, she said. A raid was conducted at his house and 570 kilograms of firecrackers were recovered from his possession, the police said.
The south district police on Tuesday arrested Dinesh Chand (63) for storing a huge quantity of firecrackers in his shop at Central Market, Madangir, they said. A total of 250 kg of banned firecrackers were recovered from his shop, Deputy Commissioner of Police (south) Chandan Chowdhary said.
Similarly, based on a tip-off, the southeast district police on Tuesday laid a trap near Sapna Cinema in Amar Colony and intercepted a car and an auto-rickshaw, the police said. On checking the vehicles, 217.48 kg of illegal firecrackers were recovered from the possession of Shubham Gupta (24) and Pawan Arora (24) and they were arrested, Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast) Isha Pandey said.
The duo disclosed they bought the illegal firecrackers from a store in Kotla Mubarakpur, she said. At their instance, a raid was conducted where another 423.35 kilograms of illegal firecrackers were seized and the shop owner Gopal Das (64) was arrested, the DCP said. Das disclosed he used to sell illegal firecrackers from his shop.
The Delhi Pollution Control Committee (DPCC) had ordered a complete ban on the production, sale and use of all types of firecrackers in the national capital till January 1, 2023. The order said the ban also extends to the online sale of firecrackers.
(With PTI inputs)
