Kolkata, May 22 (). The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police on Monday took over the probe into Sunday night’s blast at an illegal firecracker godown at Maheshtala in South 24 Parganas district. Three people, including a 10-year-old child, lost their lives in the blast.
Just five days ago, last Tuesday, a similar blast took place at an illegal firecracker factory at Egra in East Midnapore district, killing 12 people, including the owner of the factory. CID is also probing this accident.
Two teams of the CID and the Forensic Department reached the blast site in Maheshtala on Monday afternoon. While forensic officials collected samples from the blast site, the CID team members talked to the locals about the illegal godown.
Following Sunday’s blast, a large number of police personnel, led by a DSP-rank officer, carried out a search operation in the area and arrested 40 people linked to illegal firecracker manufacturing units in Maheshtala, which has been the hub of this illegal business for years. .
The police also seized 20,000 kg of illegal firecrackers during the raids that started late Sunday night. The raids continued till Monday afternoon.
However, local firecracker manufacturers have termed these actions as police excesses. They claim that the police are also harassing those people who are running their business legally.
In the Maheshtala blast case, locals alleged that the incident proved that despite the first blast in Egra, no action was taken by the police or the administration against illegal firecracker factories and godowns.
Locals alleged that the illegal godown in Maheshtala was on the ground floor of a residential complex and illegal business was going on there for a long time.
He also claimed that despite being aware of the existence of such illegal godowns, the local administration is completely silent and has not taken any action so far.
SGK/ANM
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