3 held for possessing illegal arms licences

UDAIPUR:

Udaipur police

on Sunday arrested three persons for possessing illegal arm licences that were issued to them on the basis of forged documents from

Nagaland

. The cops have also seized 11 firearms, 110 bullets and fake licences from the accused.

“Upon preliminary interrogation, it is suspected that some 500 people across the state are in possession of such fire weapons acquired through fraud documents from Nagaland. Police verification for such licences has never been completed,” Udaipur SP Rajendra Prasad Goyal said. It is suspected that a large racket is behind the act and more arrests and seizures are expected to follow.

“We were constantly receiving tip-offs of a syndicate active behind the forged arm licences being issued from Nagaland. These men were charging hefty amount from their clients. A special task force comprising circle inspectors Chandmal Singharia, Shaitan Singh and Hanuwant Singh Bhati was assigned the task to nail the gang. Preliminary investigation indicated that the licences were being granted from Dimapur and Zunheboto districts of Nagaland,” Goyal told TOI.

Acting on a tip-off, cops arrested one Vijay Choubisa, a liquor contractor from

Chitrakoot Nagar

under Sukher police station who was in possession of an illegal revolver and bullets. Choubisa confessed to having acquired them from Nagaland at a price of Rs 3 lakh. Upon Choubisa’s information, cops arrested one Dharamveer, a marble businessman from Jaipur who had helped him to get the

licence

.

Dharamveer further revealed that Bhanwarlal Ojha, a resident of Bikaner who lived in Dimapur had aided him in getting the licence through fake documents.

Ojha too has been arrested who is a civil contractor and living in Nagaland for 40 years now. He had developed friendly relations with government employees at the Dimapur collectorate who helped him to get made fake residential and identity proofs in return for money.

“During the investigation, it was found that all the licences that were said to be issued from Dimapur administration were completely fake and forged,” additional SP (city) Sudhir Joshi said. “The arrest of these men is a major breakthrough as we have come to know that over 500 people across Rajasthan are in possession of arms and weapons that have been procured through fake licences from Nagaland alone. Many of these people are habitual offenders and hard core criminals,” Joshi said.

Out of these 500 licences, 309 weapons have been sold from Shikhar Gun Store at Badi Chaupar while 41 arms have been sold from Rajasthan Gun House in Jaipur. Investigations are on to assess the role of the government employees at Dimapur collectorate, the officer said.


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