Over 12,000 reels of Chinese ‘manjha’ seized; 3 arrested: Delhi Police

New Delhi, Over 12,000 reels of Chinese ‘manjha’ were seized by the Delhi Police from multiple operations across the city and three people were also arrested, police on Friday said.
“Teams of central range and cyber cell of the crime branch arrested three people and total 12,143 reels of Chinese manjha or glass-coated synthetic kite string were seized from their possession,” Special Commissioner of Police Shalini Singh said.
In the first operation, Prem Chand was arrested after police received tip-off, the officer said.
“Team got information that a man is stocking large number of Chinese manjha in Sector-7 in Rohini. A trap was laid in Rohini area on the basis of input. During the operation, a godown was raided from where 11,820 reels of Chinese manjha was recovered. During the further course of action, another man, Adnan, was also arrested and 23 reels were also recovered from his possession,” the special commissioner said.
The police said in second operation in Daryaganj, Mohammad Akib was arrested with 240 reels of Chinese manjha.
“In a similar exercise, team carried out an operation and arrested Asjad from Azad market and recovered 60 reels from his possession,” the officer said.
Sharing details about the accused, Singh further said that Prem Chand, is a resident of Hardoi in Uttar Pradesh and owns a kite and stationary shop in Rohini sector 7. Meanwhile, Asjad is a college student and also works as a website designer.
“Efforts are being made to trace the source of the illicit manjha,” the officer said.
The Delhi Police on August 2 had said that as many as 79 people have been arrested for selling Chinese manjha and 78 FIRs were registered.
A senior police officer said, “There are strict directions to register FIR and arrest those who are involved in selling Chinese manjha. Such kite strings are completely banned in the national capital.”
On July 20 last year, a seven-year-old girl died after her throat was allegedly slit by a Chinese manjha in west Delhi’s Pashchim Vihar area when she was travelling on a motor cycle with her father.
The Chinese manjha was banned in Delhi in 2017, and the National Green Tribunal also imposed a similar ban on nylon or synthetic threads used for kite flying.
These bans were put in place to prevent harm to humans, birds, other animals and the environment, the officer said.
“Only flying kites with cotton thread free from any materials is permitted,” a senior police officer said.
In February last year, Delhi High Court directed the city police’s Crime Branch to investigate the manufacturing, sale, purchase and storage of Chinese synthetic manjha, in markets and shops of the national capital following many incidents related to the Chinese manjha in the capital.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.