Chandigarh, Sept. 6 -- As per the version of the locals and the police, the factory was split into four units, the original factory owner Satnam Singh's death, run by his sons Jaspal Singh, Paramjit Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ravil Singh.

Satnam Singh had a permit to run the factory, which was not renewed after his death by the administration.

The production units-cum-shops were in the front and the families lived at the back. The owners stocked raw material in large quantities ahead of festivals like Dussehra, Gurpurab and Diwali, and the firecrackers were delivered not only in Punjab but in Himachal Pradesh too.

After the 2017 blast, the owners had agreed to shift the factory elsewhere and only maintain their offices in the busy locali...