Three men were arrested for running a firecracker shop in south Delhi’s Kotla Mubarakpur, the police said on Monday, adding that over 1,300 kg of firecrackers were seized from the accused. The three persons have been identified as Yogender, 62, Akash Vashishith, 35, and Kishan Lal, 60.
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“We received a tip-off on Sunday regarding a huge stock of firecrackers stored at two different locations in Kotla Mubarakpur,” DCP (south) Chandan Chowdhury said.
Multiple raids were conducted at shops in Punjabi Bazar and Gurdwara Road, the DCP said, adding that the accused were booked under Section 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant) of the IPC and the Explosives Act.
Upon interrogation, the accused revealed that they had procured the stock from Gurugram in Haryana, the DCP said.
In a bid to contain the spread of harmful particulate matter, the Delhi government had last month announced a complete ban on the sale, storage, production, and bursting of firecrackers for the third consecutive year. According to the Delhi police, over a seven-year period ending August 31, 2023, 740 people were arrested for the sale and storage of firecrackers in a total of 926 cases. During the same period, 2,616 people were arrested for bursting firecrackers in 3,120 cases.