CBI RAIDS IN DELHI, J&K OVER ILLEGAL ARMS LICENCES
The central agency registered the case in 2018, a year after Rajasthan’s Antiterrorism Squad unearthed the scam
JAMMU: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted raids at around 40 locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi in connection with its probe into a case related to illegal issuance of arms licences. Some magistrates in Jammu and Kashmir are accused of issuing the licences allegedly based on forged documents “in lieu of monetary consideration”, people aware of the matter said.
SRINAGAR/DELHI: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday conducted raids at multiple locations, including the premises of bureaucrats, in Jammu & Kashmir and Delhi in connection with its probe into a case related to illegal issuance of arms licences.
The central agency registered the case in 2018, a year after Rajasthan’s Anti-terrorism Squad (ATS) unearthed the alleged scam and made arrests in connection with the issuance of licences in violation of norms. According to Rajasthan ATS, at least 3,000 permits were illegally granted allegedly in the name of army personnel.
Magistrates in Jammu & Kashmir are accused of issuing the licences in bulk allegedly based on forged documents to non-residents between 2012 and 2016 “in lieu of monetary consideration”, people aware of the matter said.
Army officers/personnel are eligible to obtain an arms licence in the district in which they are deployed. They can also do so easily, without the requisite police verification, merely on the strength of a letter from the commanding officer. It is believed that these letters may have been forged or misused with the involvement of some army officers and jawans.
The Jammu & Kashmir Police initially probed the case before it was handed over to CBI.
A CBI spokesperson said the agency was conducting searches at around 40 locations in Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur, Rajouri, Anantnag, Baramulla and Delhi, including the official and residential premises of certain public servants that also covered Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and Kashmir Administrative Service officers. The raids were also being conducted on premises of gun dealers, the spokesperson added.
IAS officer Shahid Iqbal Choudhary said his official residence in Srinagar was searched on Saturday. “With reference to media reports I’ve to confirm that CBI did search my residence & found nothing incriminating in ongoing arms license probe. Media friends may note the probe covers 4 years across all districts. I am fully answerable to CBI for my tenure. Stats from my tenure are below,” he tweeted, citing the number of arms licences issued by him as deputy magistrate of Reasi, Udhampur, and Kathua between 2012 and 2016.
The people quoted above said CBI collected documents pertaining to the issuance of arms licences across 22 districts of Jammu & Kashmir.
“During investigation and scrutiny of documents, the role of certain gun dealers was found, who in connivance with the public servants... allegedly issued such illegal arms licences to the ineligible persons. It was also alleged that the persons who got these licences were not residents of the places from where the arms licences were issued. The investigation is continuing,” the spokesperson said. In December 2019, CBI carried out searches at over a dozen locations in Srinagar, Jammu, Gurgaon, and Noida in connection with the case. According to Rajasthan Police officials, the J&K government was informed about the racket in 2017 but several letters addressed to then chief secretary BB Vyas remained unanswered.
Rajasthan ATS has claimed that 132,321 of the 143,013 licences issued in Jammu region’s Doda, Ramban and Udhampur districts were to those residing outside the erstwhile state.