Explosion in Kanpur market: Police arrest six, seize illegal firecrackers

Police intensified raids across Kanpur after a blast in Mishri Bazaar injured eight people; over 100 quintals of illegal firecrackers worth ₹50 lakh seized and six arrested in multiple areas

About 100 quintals of illegal firecrackers worth over ₹50 lakh have been seized and six persons arrested after an explosion triggered by illegal storage of crackers left eight people injured in a market here, police said on Friday.

The extensive crackdown on illegal firecrackers across the city has been initiated after a massive explosion rocked the congested Mishri Bazaar area here on Wednesday, leaving eight people injured and two scooters damaged.

Police said the explosion took place due to illegal firecracker storage, and denied links to any terrorist activity.

"We have raided simultaneously in multiple areas, including Moolganj, Fazalganj, Govind Nagar and Naubasta following inputs about large-scale storage of fireworks in densely populated areas," Commissioner of Police (Kanpur) Raghubir Lal told PTI on Friday.

 

"After the Moolganj blast, we activated the entire district police. Acting on inputs, we raided several locations and seized huge quantities of illegal firecrackers," he said.

In Moolganj, police claimed to have recovered 14 cartons of firecrackers (1.5 quintals) worth ₹2 lakh from an individual, Ikram's shop, and six cartons (50 kg) worth ₹40,000 from Abdul Bilal's store.

Two FIRs have been registered in connection with these recoveries, the police said.

In Fazalganj, a raid led by Assistant CP (Swarup Nagar) IP Singh unearthed nearly 60-65 quintals of firecrackers valued at ₹15 lakh from a warehouse.

The property, owned by Govind Nagar resident Himanshu alias Kaku, had been rented to one Raja Paswan three years ago and both were currently absconding.

In Naubasta, the police raided Madhuban Lawn in Yashoda Nagar and confiscated five quintals of fireworks estimated at Rs 18 lakh.

Deputy CP (South) Deependra Nath Chaudhary said the material was stored illegally in a residential zone.

"The lawn is owned by Mahendra Singh Yadav and managed by Hariom Awasthi, who failed to produce any legal license," he added.

In Govind Nagar, police seized 9.35 quintals (30 cartons) of firecrackers worth ₹9 lakh from a factory. The legal action has been initiated after registering the FIR.

Lal said five FIRs have been registered so far, with six arrests and 26 persons detained for questioning, including 18 from Moolganj alone.

The investigation took another turn after an X account bearing Pakistan flags flashed false and provocative messages claiming that "eight army personnel were killed near Markaz Masjid in Kanpur."  This prompted immediate action from intelligence units who flagged the posts as attempts to spread misinformation.

The police commissioner acknowledged that the social media activity "suggests a larger conspiracy" aimed at creating panic.

"We are pursuing two parallel investigations -- one into the explosion itself, and the other into the coordinated online misinformation campaign," he added.

The raids and ongoing probes have uncovered illegal firecracker storage, exposing a dangerous network operating across the city's residential and commercial zones.