Firecracker blast death: Owner of shop arrested

The owner of the cracker shop in Sadar Bazar, whose employee died in the cracker blast in Naya Bazar area, has been arrested from Meerut, police said on Thursday.

The accused, identified as Mukhtar Ahmed (50), was absconding after Motalip Mirza, who was carrying two packets of crackers from Ahmed’s godown in Gali Zakaria Mohalla Fatak Hawas Khana to one of his shops was killed in the cracker burst, police said.

“He (Ahmed) was absconding after the incident on October 25 and was hiding in Meerut at his relatives’ place. He was arrested today from there,” said DCP(North) Madhur Verma.

Ahmed had switched off his mobile phone and was using a relative’s phone to communicate with people, said the officer.

Ahmed owns three shops in Sadar Bazar area. He had made the bundles from his godown which contained the ring caps and had first asked one of his employees Anzarul to take them to his shop but after Anzarul said he was busy, he asked Mirza to take them to one of his shops. 

Mirza was killed when the packets containing crackers had burst in the Naya Bazar area setting off panic in the area with initial reports suggesting a terror angle to the cracker blast.

Later, police ruled out a terror angle to the blast and said that the blast happened due to high pressure and the huge quantity of crackers.