One injured in explosion at ‘illegal’ firecrackers unit in Nuh

Police said a large quantity of firecrackers, gunpowder, and chemicals were illegally stored inside the house when the explosion occurred

An explosion inside what police called a make-shift firecrackers factory in Nuh led to a 24-year-old man sustaining severe burn injuries, police officers said on Wednesday.

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Investigators said the explosion occurred on Monday night, in a house constructed in the fields in village Dudoli. They said a large quantity of firecrackers, gunpowder, and chemicals were illegally stored inside the house when the explosion occurred.

The man injured in the incident, identified as Aashiq Akhtar, is critical and has been referred to PGIMS Rohtak, said police. They said he was a labourer at the illegal factory.

According to local residents, four men were inside the house at the time of the blast, and seeing the structure catch fire, they rushed out of their residences to douse the flames.

Malkhan Singh, station house officer of Bicchor police station, said that the intensity of the fire was such that it completely gutted the illegal firecrackers unit. “A team was sent to the spot and they initially thought someone was bursting crackers, but after a few minutes, there was a loud explosion. A large number of people gathered near the unit, and we took the injured man to a local hospital, from where he was referred to Rohtak,” the SHO said.

Police said they have registered a case against seven people under sections 4 and 5 of the Explosive Substances Act, 1908 and section 336 (acting rashly or negligently) and 337 (causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others) of the Indian Penal Code.

“The suspects had set up a unit to manufacture firecrackers, which they sold for weddings and other celebrations in Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,” Singh said.

Akhtar’s family said he was severely injured in the explosion. “Some people used to manufacture firecrackers and had stored a lot of gunpowder and illegally manufactured firecrackers. They were running the factory without any licence or safety measures, due to which my brother suffered injuries,” Akhtar’s brother Mufeed Akhtar said.

SHO Singh said police are conducting an investigation to try and find the source of the raw material used by the suspects. “We will bust the entire network of suppliers and receivers of the banned crackers,” he said.