Harda: Police have arrested three people including the owner of the illegally operating firecracker factory where at least 11 people were killed in an explosion leading to a massive fire in Harda district of Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday, police said. Sources said that the firecracker factory owner identified as Rajesh Aggarwal was nabbed by the police while he was trying to flee in his car towards the National Highway leading to Rajgarh district.
Besides the factory owner, two more of his accomplices identified as Somesh Aggarwal and Rafique Khan were also arrested by the police in the case. While confirming the arrest of Rajesh Aggarwal and Soumesh Aggarwal, who were caught from Sarangpur in Rajgarh district, Harda SP Sanjeev Kanchan said that the accused have been booked under Sections 304, 308 or 34 of the IPC and Explosives Act, while one of the accused, Rafiq Khan, is being interrogated for his role in the incident.
The SP Harda told the media that, after the incident, the priority was to rescue the survivors and shift them to the hospital even as a manhunt was launched to nab the culprits. On Tuesday, the massive blast in the firecracker factory of Harda shook the entire nation, in which 11 people died while around 200 others were injured in the blaze caused by the explosion.
The owner of the factory, which is said to have been operating in the area illegally was trying to escape from the area. The firecracker factory was located in Bairagarh locality on the outskirts of Harda town, which is about 150 km from the state capital Bhopal.
