NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested a 53-year-old man, his wife, and his son and recovered 3,580.4 kilograms of illegal firecrackers in Rajouri Garden.
The accused have been identified as Sushil Kakkar, Upasana Kakkar (50), and Shivam Kakkar (28), residents of Vishal Enclave in Rajouri Garden.
The family was misusing the residential house as a godown, storing crackers, including in the kitchen. The three were caught red-handed while repacking crackers for supply.
The crackers were procured from Meerut, Gurugram, and Ghaziabad for high-profit sale in Delhi despite the Supreme Court ban.
With the upcoming festival season, it was instructed to check violations of the ban on firecrackers and trace bulk suppliers/storage points.
After receiving a tip-off in the early hours of Thursday, a raid was conducted, Deputy Commissioner of Police (west) Darade Sharad Bhaskar said.
"The family members were caught while repacking the crackers into smaller consignments for sale," the DCP said.
The family also runs a shop of snacks and other eatables in Moti Nagar, but had been indulging in illegal procurement of firecrackers from Meerut, Gurugram and Ghaziabad for profiteering.
Earlier on September 16 in a major crackdown against the illegal stocking of firecrackers, police had recovered over 200 kilograms of firecrackers from the Badarpur area and nabbed one Dharamvir Singh, a resident of Badarpur. The recovery was made from the rooftop room of a building in Moladband, Badarpur.
Last year in December, the Delhi government had imposed a 'perpetual ban' on the manufacture, use and sale of firecrackers, including through online platforms, in the national capital, according to an official order.
The ban includes the delivery of all kinds of firecrackers and bursting them in Delhi, through online marketing platforms.
The order had said the direction for a complete ban on the manufacturing, storage, sale and bursting of all kinds of firecrackers in Delhi till January 1, 2025, was not completely effective as observed by the Supreme Court.