Delhi Police order knife after teen’s murder, Blinkit lands in legal storm

NEW DELHI: Delhi Police has registered an FIR under the Arms Act after finding out that quick-commerce platform Blinkit has allegedly been selling illegal knives online.

The complainant in the case, a constable posted at Khyala police station in west Delhi, stated that two recent murders in the area had been committed using knives purchased through online platforms. One took place last month and another — of a 14-year-old boy — in Feb.



Following these incidents, police began scrutinising various e-commerce and quick-delivery platforms offering knives for sale and found Blinkit selling prohibited ones, an officer said.

Knives exceeding the maximum permitted blade length of 7.62 cm and width of 1.72 cm are considered illegal under the Arms Act.

As part of a verification exercise, the constable placed an order for a knife on Blinkit on Feb 13 to ascertain whether the product complied with the legal specifications, deputy commissioner of police (west) Darade Sharad Bhaskar said. The delivery address was the second floor of Khyala police station. The knife, which cost Rs 710, was delivered at 4.05 pm the same day.

"The knife was found to be ‘gararidar' (can be manually opened and closed) and had a steel blade 8 cm long and 2.5 cm wide. Hence, it was illegal," the DCP said.

The tax invoice named the online platform as the seller, with an address in west Delhi's Tihar village. Based on these findings, a case under Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered.

Following further investigations, 16 illegal knives were seized from various dark stores and outlets linked to Blinkit across Delhi on Feb 15. Police teams continued their raids the following day and recovered 32 more such knives from a warehouse of the platform located in Gugaon's Farrukhnagar. So far, 50 knives have been seized.

Police are trying to identify those responsible for the procurement, storage and sale of the illegal knives.

A response was sought from the platform, but it refused comment.