1 KILLED, 5 INJURED IN DELHI CRACKER BLAST
Explosion triggers panic, but cops rule out terror angle; Rajnath seeks report
Police personnel and forensic experts examine the site of a cracker blast in North Delhi’s Naya Bazar on Tuesday. The blast killed one person and injured five others, setting off panic among people in the wake of a high alert in the city. The police ruled out any terror angle.
An explosion in Old Delhi’s Naya Bazar area on Tuesday morning left one person dead and at least five others injured in the wake of high alert in the city even as the police ruled out any terror angle to it.
The explosion, with deafening sound and cloud of smoke, caused panic among the people and the area had to be cordoned off.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Bahrain, called Delhi police commissioner Alok Kumar Verma to take stock of the situation in the national capital which is on high alert due to the festive season.
He instructed Mr Verma to take all possible measures to ensure peace in the city.
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 to it.
The police said that the incident, captured on a CCTV camera, took place at around 10.40 am at Gali Patte Wali in front of Saraswati traders where the deceased, identified as Motalip Mirza (60), a resident of Murshidabad in West Bengal, was carrying two big plastic bags full of crackers on his shoulders.
The police said that they could not ascertain the exact cause of the blast, but it might have happened due to pressure after the bags were bumped on the floor. In light of this incident, the home ministry has asked for a detailed report on the incident from the Delhi police.
“Motalip had picked up two large consignments of crackers from Gali Zakaria Mohalla Fatak Hawas Khana in Lahori Gate, which is occupied on rent, and was going to deposit it at a shop in Naya Bazaar. Tired after reaching the shop, the moment he dropped the bags on the floor, the crackers in it exploded, causing chaos in the area,” said a senior police official, adding that upon going to the godown, many such bags of crackers were found, but the owner of the godown was not there.
Motalip’s family stays in Bengal and he has been working for the past 20 years in Delhi. He is survived by his wife and two kids. He used to be hired by many godown owners to transfer goods from one place to another and lived on a footpath in front of a shop in Tilak Bazaar.
The blast, apart from killing Motalip on the spot, injured four others, identified as Bhupendra Gupta, Mahesh, Hawa Singh, and Murari, who have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment.
“Gupta and Mahesh are the shopkeepers of the shops in front of which the explosion took place and Hawa Singh and Murari were at that time passing by the shop,” said another police official.
“Motalip had gone to his family in Bengal and came back yesterday. He told me that his finances were weak and hence he came back to Delhi quickly,” said another load labourer, Anjal Mirza, a native of Motalip’s village in Murshidabad and who also worked with him.
“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, the police has registered a case in regard to the incident. S.B.K. Singh, special commissioner of police (North, law and order) tweeted: “Cracker blast took place in Lahori Gate area when a labour Motalip Mirza was carrying two bags of crackers. Handle crackers carefully.”