Ahead of Diwali, over 400 kg firecrackers seized in Delhi, two held

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested two persons in separate incidents and seized over 400 kg of firecrackers being sold without licence in West and Outer-North districts, officials said on Friday.

Both the seizures were made on Thursday, they said.

In the first incident, a 47-year-old shopkeeper was arrested from west Delhi's Raghubir Nagar area for allegedly selling firecrackers without licence, police said.

The accused, Sanjay Kumar, is a resident of Raghubir Nagar in Khayala, they said.

On Thursday, police were informed that Kumar had a huge stock of illegal crackers for sale at his shop in Raghubir Nagar, a senior police officer said.

"A raid was conducted and Kumar was apprehended from his shop.

A total of 414.

6 kilogram of different varieties of illegal crackers have been recovered," Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Deepak Purohit said.

He was also found previously involved in four cases, two of whom were registered under the Explosives Act, police said.

In another case, a police team patrolling Nehru Enclave area found a man selling illegal firecrackers on footpath.

They apprehended the seller, identified as Vishnu Datt (60), a resident of Nawal Park in Alipur, police said, adding that 9.2 kilogram of different varieties of illegal firecrackers were recovered from his possession.

Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi government on Thursday decided to ban firecrackers, including green crackers, in the national capital till November 30 and ramp up medical infrastructure in hospitals, with Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal holding the festive season and pollution responsible for the rising COVID-19 cases in the city.