Firecracker explosion in north Delhi kills one

New Delhi, October 25

Explosion set off by firecrackers killed one and caused panic in north Delhi’s Naya Bazar market on Tuesday.

The explosion occurred at 10.40 am. Images in a CCTV nearby showed a daily wager, Motalip Mirza, carrying two bags full of firecrackers, which set off when he put them down in front of a shop. The blast killed him, police said.

"The firecracker blast took place due to high pressure and the huge quantity of crackers," said a senior police officer.

Soon after the explosion, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Bahrain, called Delhi Police Commissioner Alok Kumar Verma to know details, initially thought of as a terrorist attack.

The explosion came at a time when the city is on high alert with Diwali around the corner.

SBK Singh, special commissioner of police (Law and Order), North, tweeted: "Cracker blast took place in Lahori Gate area when a labour Motalip Mirza was carrying two bags of crackers.

Handle crackers carefully".

Mirza was from West Bengal’s Murshidabad and had been in the national capital since the past 15-20 years.