Firecrackers kept in a box near a scooter were responsible for the blast at the congested Misri Bazar in Kanpur on Wednesday evening that left 12 persons injured, police said on Thursday.
The police have picked up 12 firecracker wholesalers and are interrogating them.
The Uttar Pradesh government has suspended six policemen in Kanpur city on the charge of dereliction of duty.
Kanpur police commissioner Raghubir Lal said: “The government has also removed Ashutosh Kumar, additional commissioner of police of the Kotwali area in the city, under whose jurisdiction Misri Bazar falls. Earlier, we had thought that something kept in the scooters had exploded, but fresh CCTV footage suggests that a box of firecrackers had exploded.”
The suspended policemen are Vikram Singh, Moolganj police station in-charge; sub-inspector Rohit Tomar; head constable Imamul Haq; and constables Chetan Kumar, Amit Kumar and Brahma Nand.
Ashutosh Singh, joint commissioner of police of Kanpur, said: “We have come to know that some people hoard illegal firecrackers there during Diwali. We have recovered about two tonnes of illegal firecrackers from the property of Mohammad Tariq, one of the 12 wholesalers detained,” said Singh.
Lal said one of the two scooters damaged in the blast had been stolen two years ago. Brijendra Rastogi, owner of the two-wheeler, had filed a case with the police on March 31, 2023. “We are trying to connect the threads of the crime,” Lal said.
However, police sources said they couldn’t locate Rastogi at his given address in Govindnagar colony after the incident.
The other scooter, which was standing near the stolen vehicle, is owned by Ashwini Kumar, one of the injured persons. He has a hosiery shop in the Deputy Ka Padav area of Kanpur city.