Massive explosion rocked Mishri Bazaar area in Kanpur on Wednesday, leaving eight people injured and damaging two scooters, as authorities launched a wide-scale crackdown on the illegal fireworks trade.

Following the blast, police carried out coordinated raids across multiple neighborhoods  Moolganj, Fazalganj, Govind Nagar, and Naubasta  seizing what officials say is nearly 100 quintals of illegal firecrackers valued at over ₹50 lakh, and arresting six people.

The department confirmed the explosion was caused by unlicensed storage of crackers and dismissed any links to terrorist activity.  Police Commissioner Raghubir Lal said that in Moolganj, 14 cartons (worth ₹2 lakh) were recovered from one shop and six cartons (worth ₹40,000) from another.