Porter vehicles, abandoned flats, and supply chains used to transport counterfeit liquor. All of these are part of how hoarders are stacking and selling banned firecrackers this festive season in the national capital, according to Delhi Police, whose Crime Branch seized over 1,500 kg of fireworks in the past 48 hours. The operation started on Friday, when the Crime Branch team of the western range received a tip-off about a man named Akash Gupta, 24, a grocer who was allegedly storing crackers at his second-floor flat on Jhakaar Road in the Dwarka area. The police seized 320 kg of firecrackers from his house. “During interrogation, Akash Gupta admitted to procuring the prohibited fireworks from a Porter driver named Chander Kant, 36, a resident of Uttam Nagar, Delhi. With the help of technical analysis, Chander Kant was traced coming from Murthal in Haryana’s Sonepat towards Delhi. Acting swiftly, the police intercepted him in Rohini Sector 25, and his pick-up truck was checked, leading to the seizure of 400 kg of prohibited fireworks,” DCP (Crime) Pankaj Kumar said in a statement. The police then arrested a client of Chander’s named Rishi and seized 182 kg of crackers from him. Another operation on the same day saw the police raid a house in the Shastri Nagar area of Delhi, where a man named Rahul Sagar, 34, had allegedly stored about 412 kg of crackers. He was previously involved in four criminal cases, such as attempt to culpable homicide, causing hurt, and under the Delhi Excise Act, DCP Pankaj added. LED bulb unit and 24 brands of fireworks The third operation took place on Saturday, when the interstate cell of the Crime Branch raided a purported LED bulb manufacturing unit in the Mukundpur area of Bhalswa Dairy and arrested a man named Sonu. “During the operation, 311 kilograms of banned firecrackers of 24 different brands of Ginny, Coronation, Maheshwas, Nikhil, Sarvam, Vasantha, Joker, Jai Jawan, Sri Krishna, Khushi, among others, were recovered from the 1st floor of the premises,” DCP Pankaj said adding that he bought the consignment for Rs 2 lakh and planned to sell them at double the price. On the same day, another team of the Crime Branch team raided a small shop in the Ashok Nagar market of Shahdara and nabbed a man named Vishal Sharma, 34. “A raid was conducted at Main Road, Mandoli Road, Shahdara, Delhi, where one person, namely Vishal Sharma, who lives in Ashok Nagar and was found selling banned firecrackers of various types. During the course of action, banned firecrackers weighing a total of 106 Kg were seized,” DCP Pankaj said. A police official said that this year, many of the hoarders were using quick-delivery apps to reach out to customers—a modus operandi that has also been used to supply illegal drugs. “Porter- and Uber-registered vehicles are being used to deliver the consignments. The crackers are being procured from states like UP and Haryana, and the hoarders are using the tried and tested supply chains used to bring counterfeit liquor into the capital,” a police official said.
