Chinese manjha godown busted in Uttam Nagar, 2 held

New Delhi: Police have busted an illegal Chinese manjha godown and arrested two men for allegedly selling the banned synthetic kite string. A total of 2,040 rolls of manjha have been seized from the godown in southwest Delhi’s Uttam Nagar.

Police had received a tip-off about the illegal storage of manjha, after which a raid was conducted on the ground-floor premises. “Thirty-four cartons, each containing 60 rolls, were found and seized,” said DCP (crime) Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, adding that the owner of the premises was identified as Shanky Singhal, a 36-year-old resident of Uttam Nagar.

During questioning, Singhal told cops that to earn profit during the Independence Day season, he had illegally procured the strings through social media from a local kite trader, identified as Manmohan (52). Manmohan further admitted to managing his family’s wholesale kite business after the demise of his father, police said. Both have been arrested.

Police found that both are involved in the seasonal trade of strings and have prior involvement. Singhal has a previous involvement in a 2018 pocso case, criminal intimidation and outraging a woman’s modesty, registered at Uttam Nagar police station. Manmohan has a previous involvement in a 2023 case of disobedience to an order duly promulgated by a public servant, registered at Bindapur police station.

The Chinese manjha is banned for sale in the city and is dangerous when it comes in contact with the skin for both birds and humans. Just earlier this month, a five-year-old boy had died after his throat was slit by the banned Chinese manjha while riding a motorcycle with his family in northeast Delhi’s Usmanpur.