Shopowner held, 21 swords seized

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The Sadar Bazar police station of Jalna seized 21 steel swords — collectively worth around Rs26,000 — from a garment store in the Mahavir Chowk area and arrested the 43-year-old shop owner.According to the complaint filed by sub-inspector Sachin Vasudev Sanap of Sadar Bazar police station, who heads the detection branch (DB squad), the raid was conducted on Thursday, after credible information was received from an informant that illegal swords were being kept at the store.After informing senior officers and making a station diary entry, Sanap, along with a team of officers and two panch witnesses, reached the shop in a private vehicle. The owner — identified as Manish Dilip Nihalani (43), a trader residing at Shiv Apartment in Ajintha Nagar — was present at the counter.Police carried out a search of the third floor of the shop in the presence of panchas and recovered the 21 swords. On being asked to produce a licence for the weapons, Nihalani allegedly told police that he did not possess any valid authorisation.Out of the total seizure, 13 were large steel swords measuring 79cm valued at Rs1,500 each. The remaining eight were smaller swords measuring 53cm valued at Rs800 each. Superintendent of police Ajaykumar Bansal said Nihalani is being interrogated to ascertain when, from where and for what purpose the swords were procured and stored inside the garment shop.An offence has been registered under section 4/25 of the Arms Act and section 135 of the Maharashtra Police.