New Delhi: Ahead of Diwali, the Delhi Police has seized over 7,800 kilograms of illegal fireworks in multiple operations across the city since September 1. To date, 32 individuals have been arrested, officials said on Thursday.
The drive, carried out by various police districts and units, including the crime branch and AATS teams, aligns with the Supreme Court’s directions and the Delhi government’s blanket ban on the sale, storage, and use of firecrackers to curb pollution during Diwali.
Police said the sustained enforcement effort has led to massive recoveries from residential areas, godown, and commercial units where the banned items were allegedly being repackaged and sold in violation of the ban.
According to police, the largest single recovery came on September 25, when a team from Rajouri Garden in west Delhi seized 3,580 kg of firecrackers from a house in Vishal Enclave. A family of three -- Sushil Kakkar, his wife Upasana, and their son Shivam -- was arrested for allegedly stocking and repackaging the material.
“The consignment had been sourced from Meerut, Gurugram, and Ghaziabad for resale in Delhi. The firecrackers were found stuffed in every corner of the house, including the kitchen, posing a major safety hazard,” a police officer said.
Earlier, on September 16, police seized 225 kg of firecrackers from a rooftop room in Badarpur’s Moladband area and arrested Dharamvir Singh, who had allegedly procured the stock from Palwal in Haryana.
In north Delhi’s Vijay Nagar, two men -- Lalit Kumar Gulati and Mukul Wasan -- were held on September 27 with 164 kg of crackers transported from Gurugram.
Another major haul took place on October 2 in Bindapur’s Matiala village, where a team recovered 693 kg of firecrackers from a premises operating under the guise of an ice cream unit. The accused, Dilbagh Singh, was arrested.
“The combined recovery from these operations stood at 4,662.4 kg, with 10 arrests,” said the officer.
The police busted another racket in Mandoli, leading to the arrest of three people -- Bhagwati Prasad, his son Tarun Singhal, and supplier Rajiv Goel -- and seizure of 914 boxes of banned crackers.
The trio had allegedly been running a distribution chain between Meerut and Delhi. Police said the stock recovered from Goel’s godown and nearby shop amounted to several hundred kilograms.
Delhi Police seized 7,876.5 kg of banned firecrackers and arrested 32 people in coordinated raids across multiple city districts.