A massive blast outside a firecracker godown in the crowded Naya Bazar area of the Walled City on Tuesday morning left one person dead and four others injured. The incident took place at the Pattewalii Gali in front of the Saraswati traders around 10.40 am when two large bags full of firecrackers, being carried by a labourer, exploded. The intensity of the blast was such that all the windows of nearby shops were smashed and the impact of the explosion shook the buildings and shops nearby.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Bahrain, spoke to Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma soon after the explosion that left shopkeepers and residents in the area shaken. He instructed Verma to take all possible measures to ensure peace in the city, which is on high alert due to the festive season. The Ministry of Home Affairs also sought a detailed report on the incident from the Delhi Police.
Several specialised teams of the Delhi Police, including forensics, officers from the Special Cell and the SWAT teams, swooped down on the area after the blast to ascertain if there was any terror angle in it. However, on the basis of preliminary investigation they have ruled out any terror angle.
CCTV footage of the incident shows people running around screaming as a thick blanket of smoke filled the area.
Delhi Police officials said the deceased was identified as Motalip Mirza (60), a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal and the injured were identified as Bhupendra Gupta, Mahesh, Hawa Singh and Murari. They were taken to a nearby hospital. The window panes, fans and other items in the shops were broken.
“Motalip had picked up two big plastic bags full of crackers from Gali Zakaria Mohalla Fatak Hawas Khana in lahori gate. He was shifting them to a shop in Naya Bazaar on his shoulders. After reaching the shop, he dropped the bags on the floor. The impact triggered blast as the crackers kept in the two bags exploded causing chaos in the area,” said Madhur Verma, Deputy Commissioner of Police (North district), adding that during the search of the godown many such bags of crackers were found but the owner of the godown was on the run.
According to police sources, crackers found in the godown were of Chinese make.
Motalip’s family stays in Bengal and he has been working in Delhi as labourer for the past 20 years. He is survived by his wife and two children. He used to be hired by many godown owners to transfer goods from one place to another and would reside on a footpath in front of a shop in Tilak Bazaar.
“Gupta and Mahesh the shopkeepers whose shops are in the vicinity while Hawa Singh and Murari were at that time passing by” the DCP added.
“Motalip had gone to his family in West Bengal and had returned on Monday. He told me that his finances were weak and hence came back to Delhi quickly,” said another labourer Anjal Mirza, also a native of Murshidabad. “Only god is the prime owner of our lives and he sends us here and knows the time to take us away,” added Anjal.
Meanwhile, Police has registered a case in regard to the incident. “We have registered a case under section 304 (Punishment for culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 286(Negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 336(Act endangering life or personal safety of others), 338 (Causing grievous hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others, 427 (Mischief causing damage) of the IPC and Section 3 of the explosive substance Act,” said DCP.