Ghaziabad: Three days after a firecracker explosion at a community centre in Sahibabad where a Ravana effigy was being made ahead of Dussehra, Pilkhuwa resident Rishabh has died on Thursday of his injuries, police said. He is the second person to succumb to the blast.His father, Anil Kumar, the contractor engaged to make the effigy, died of his injuries on Oct 6. The explosion occurred on Oct 5 in a room where firecrackers were stored. The blast was so powerful that the walls of the community centre were blown away and the doors were shattered. The awning of a nearby house was damaged. Cracks also appeared in the walls of three other houses.Police initially said the blast occurred while firecrackers were being placed inside the effigy. An investigation later found that workers were preparing breakfast in the room when a fire broke out, triggering the explosion.Five people — Kumar (45), his sons Rajat (29) and Rishabh (25), and their associates Raju (35) and Mahendra (32) had been injured in the explosion. Three were shifted to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Delhi and two to Safdarjung Hospital.DCP (trans-Hindon zone) Rijul said they got the news from a hospital in Delhi that Rishabh had succumbed to his injuries in the afternoon.A police complaint had been made by GMC tax inspector grade II Prabhat Sharma. He said at the Nagar Nigam Ghaziabad Community Centre located in Lajpat Nagar, firecracker materials had been kept by some unidentified persons. “It is also to be taken into cognisance that no permission of any kind had been granted by the civic body for the said activity at the community centre. However, unidentified persons had kept firecrackers at the Community Centre in an unauthorised manner,” DCP said.DCP said based on the complaint, an FIR has been registered against an unknown person under sections 326 (g) (mischief by using fire or an explosive substance with the intent or knowledge that it will likely destroy a building ordinarily used as a place of worship, a human dwelling, or a place for the custody of property), 324 (3) (any person who commits mischief by causing damage or destruction to property belonging to the govt or a local authority) and 125 (Act endangering life or personal safety of others) of BNS and under relevant sections of the Explosives Act, 1884.“The injured persons are not in a condition to talk, so we will take their statements once they have partially recovered. We are also investigating how the firecrackers were stored in the community centre when no one had taken any permission. ACP Sahibabad is also investigating the role of the chowki-in-charge and others as to why they don’t have the information about the storage of firecrackers at the community centre,” the DCP said.
