2 killed, 5 injured in blast at cracker godown

GURUGRAM: A blast at a firecracker godown late night on Sunday, while explosives were being loading in a mini truck, left two people dead and five injured. Both the owner of the godown — located in Kadipur industrial area — and his son were arrested for death due to negligence.

Thus far, cops have ruled out the possibility of a blast in the mini truck’s CNG cylinder and claimed it occurred when an explosive-laden box fell while being loaded. One person died on the spot, while another succumbed to his injuries at Safdarjung Hospital in Delhi. Two more are admitted to Safdarjung Hospital in critical condition (80% burn injuries), while three others are admitted in a private hospital in Gurugram.

The deceased were identified as the godown’s security guard Nepal Singh alias Baba from Bihar and Sattar (from Rajasthan), the helper of the mini truck’s driver. Nepal was supposed to return to his village soon to arrange for his daughter’s wedding. The father of five — two daughters and three sons — was the guard-cum-caretaker of the godown. He was supervising the loading of the mini truck, which had around 75kg of explosives, when the mishap occurred.

DCP (west) Sumer Singh said a case has been registered against godown owner Bharat Bhusan Kataria and his son Amit. “We’ve arrested both. Further action will be taken on the basis of the investigation report,” said Singh. An explosives expert and the fire department have joined the investigation.

According to police, the firecracker godown, Lucky Kataria Fireworks, is located in galli number 8 of Kadipur. On Sunday night, a mini truck from Delhi arrived with 25 boxes of firecrackers. It was driven by Sanju, who was accompanied by helpers Sattar and Anil.

After some of the boxes had been unloaded, the godown supervisor refused to accept the rest and asked Sanju to take back the consignment. Sanju and his helpers started loading the boxes, when one fell on the ground causing the explosion. This set off firecrackers in other boxes, leading to the fire, which damaged the godown and some adjoining buildings.

The impact of the blast was so strong that security guard Nepal was thrown 10ft away and died on the spot, while Sattar, Anil and Sanju, as well as wage labourers Kanhaiya Lal, Shailender Mishra and Lal Bahadur, were injured.

Shailender and Anil are admitted to Safdarjung Hospital with 80% burn injuries.

It took the four fire tenders that rushed to the spot around an hour and a half to douse the flames. Meanwhile, cops arrived and took the injured to hospital. Three of the victims, with critical injuries, were later shifted to Safdarjung Hospital.

On the basis of Kanhaiya Lal’s statement, police registered a case under sections 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC and the Explosives Act.

On Monday morning, a team of forensic experts collected samples, while explosives experts were also called in to determine cause of the explosion.

Police said they were initially informed of a CNG cylinder blast, but preliminary investigation suggests it was due to explosives. The CNG cylinder of the mini truck — which was blown to smithereens — was intact. “Explosion was caused by explosives,” said the officer, adding the godown has a valid licenses for explosives and ‘green’ crackers.