Owner held in Delhi Sadar Bazar shop blast case; Police say explosion caused by firecrackers

NEW DELHI, (ANI): The Delhi Police on Saturday arrested the owner of the shop in the Sadar Bazar area of the national capital in connection with the January 7 explosion which led to the structural collapse of stairs at the shop and claimed the life of one person.

As per reports, a man identified as Gulab Madar (35) died while five other persons were injured in the case. After the incident, the Delhi Police lodged a case under relevant sections of the Explosives Act after a forensic team probe found that the explosion was caused due to fire crackers.

Police raided the hideouts of the shop owner Mohammad Faiz and said that he had initially spread rumours that the blast was triggered after a water booster motor exploded.

“Initially, the accused fled after spreading a rumour that the blast was the cause of a water booster explosion. A police team raided his hideouts and nabbed him. During interrogation he disclosed that he used to deal in fire crackers during festival seasons some years ago and on the day of incident he was sweeping his godown for storage of Holi festival items,” the police said in its official statement

Police said that the accused disclosed that he had handed over the fire crackers and other materials to the deceased person asking him to dispose them at a different place. “He did not disclose about the contents of the bag containing firecrackers as no one was ready to dispose it off due to its nature. While the deceased was carrying the said bag it blew up on the stairs,” the police said in its statement.

The police said that they had booked a case under Section 285, 337, 394(ii) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 5, 9(B) of the Explosives Act under the limits of Sadar Bazar police station. The police is, however, yet to identify the source from where accused Faiz used to procure firecrackers.

The Delhi Police also said that they scanned through the CCTV footage from the surrounding area in which they found the accused handing over the ‘plastic katta’ to the deceased right before the explosion occurred in the godown.

“The blast had taken place in the said plastic katta on the staircase of the building where the accused has a godown at the first floor,” the police said mentioning that they have recovered traces of small fire crackers from the spot. (ANI)