Country pistols, bombs cause fear before Bengal polls
KOLKATA: As the death toll in the pre-panchayat poll violence in Bengal touched 16 till 5 pm on Saturday, a proliferation of countrymade semi-automatic pistols and crude bombs recovered from a district triggered concerns on the eve of elections.
The polls will be held on May 14 and at the time of filing this report, violence was reported from many places across the state. On Saturday afternoon police seized a large quantity of ammunition at Salboni in West Midnapore while villagers at Bhangar in North 24 Parganas district discovered hundreds of crude bombs inside several pits dug behind the home of local Trinamool Congress (TMC) heavyweight Arabul Islam.
Islam was arrested on Friday night, hours after the supporter of an Independent candidate was shot dead. Islam was charged under several sections of Indian Penal Code and the Arms Act.
The pistols were manufactured in clandestine workshops in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Bengal and are sold for anything between ₹15,000 and ₹25,000. Unlike the crude single-shot ‘pipegun’ or ‘katta’ from yesteryears, the pistols fire eight shots in quick succession with reasonable accuracy up to a distance of 20 metres.
“Most of these pistols fire the 7.65 mm rimless ammunition that is manufactured by the Indian Ordnance Factory at Khadki, Maharashtra. Civilians owning licensed pistols buy this ammunition from authorised gun dealers. But some unscrupulous dealers are selling these to criminals. For example, Delhi Police arrested two gunrunners in November 2017 and seized more than 1,300 live cartridges of .315 and 7.65 mm caliber from them. An authorised arms dealer in Aligarh allegedly rigged the registers to show the illegal sales as legitimate,” said a senior state police officer who did not want to be quoted.
In recent months, dozens of these pistols have been seized by police from gunrunners and illegal workshops in different districts.
On Thursday, director general of state police Surajit Kar Purkayastha asked his officers in the districts to intensify raids.
“Earlier, these pistols were brought from central Indian states because demand was low in Bengal. The violence perpetrated by the ruling party makes it apparent that demand for pistols has gone up. So, these are now made by local gunsmiths. It is Bengal’s new industry,” alleged CPI(M) politburo member and Lok Sabha MP Md Salim.
“Bengal has turned into an armoury. Earlier, Bihar used to supply illegal guns to criminals across India but now Bengal has become the manufacturing hub and a haven for criminals and gunrunners. The end result is the bloodshed you witness everyday,” alleged BJP national secretary and former state president Rahul Sinha.