Police say

A man attempted to put out the fire after a portion of the firecracker warehouse collapsed after an explosion occurred in the Deesa area in Banaskantha on April 1, 2025. Image source: ANI

A forensic investigation confirmed that the presence of aluminum powder, one of the ingredients for making firecrackers, caused a huge explosion and fire that passed through a warehouse near Deesa Town in Gujarat, killing 21 people a day, Wednesday, April 2, 2025).

Akshayraj Makwana, principal of Banaskantha Distrond, told reporters that in addition to a piece of aluminum powder from the Forensic Laboratory (FSL), there is also yellow glucose powder from the warehouse.

Although SP acknowledged that both substances were used to make firecrackers, he told reporters a detailed investigation is being conducted to find out if firecrackers were made in Goddown.

The explosion just happened around Tuesday (April 1, 2025) in an industrial area near the town of Desa, about 30 kilometers from the Banaskantha area headquarters. The explosion was so powerful that it sent the body parts of workers flying 200-300 meters to. Officials said that after most of the RCC roof slabs fell on them, some of the family members of the workers who stayed in the premises were crushed to death.

Mr Markwana said the warehouse owner Deepak Mohnani and his father Khubchand Mohnani were arrested on Tuesday evening (1 April 2025) and from the neighboring Sabarkantha district, Mr Markwana said, adding that the Duo was FIR registered in Deesa.

Both of them were convicted on charges and were booked in relevant parts of the Explosives Act and Explosives Substances Act, SP said.

“In addition to firecrackers, the FSL team also discovered aluminum powder in the warehouse. A bag containing yellow glucose was also found. Both materials were used to make firecrackers. FSL told us that aluminum powder was the cause behind the explosion,” said Mr. Makwana.

He said aluminum powder has several other applications that can be purchased and sold in the open market as it is a “non-explosive” material, although it is a flammable material.

If ignited in an enclosed room, the material will cause an explosion because it generates a lot of energy, SP said.

“The two defendants did not admit that they had made firecrackers in the warehouse. However, since we found these materials, we will conduct detailed detections in this direction. We are also checking for the presence of oxidants, which is a key element in making firecrackers,” said Mr Markwana.

On Tuesday (April 1, 2025), Deesa Deputy Judge Neha Panchal said Gotton had initially obtained permission to store firecrackers, but it did not renew after it expired on December 31 due to its failure.

This license is for storage of firecrackers only. “However, it seems they are illegally making firecrackers,” the official said.

During the investigation, police found Deepak Mohnani was detained nearly three years ago on suspicion of participating in cricket betting rackets, SP said.

He added that in addition to the five-person special investigation team (SIT) composed of IG Chirag Koradia to investigate the incident, seven other teams were set up to investigate other aspects such as the defendant’s bank transactions and analyzing call details records.