Arms licence racket: Sub-inspector held in Gurgaon, other officials under scanner
GURGAON: The officer in charge of the arms licensing branch of the Gurgaon police was arrested on Friday evening in connection with the alleged arms licences racket.
Sub-inspector Virender Singh was arrested based on the information provided to the police by Manish Bhardwaj alias Kale, the kingpin of the racket.
The other officials of the licensing branch are also being probed for their complicity, if any, in the fake licences racket.
As per the rules, when an application for an arms licence registration or renewal is made in Gurgaon, the licensing branch seeks NoC (no-objection certificate) from other states before processing the application.
The police said that instead of the sending the letter seeking the NoC by registered post to other police departments, Singh would hand over the letter to Bhardwaj, who then used the services of an expert document forger, Mohan Lal, to forge the replies granting NoC to the licensing branch in Gurgaon.
Based on the NoC thus obtained, the Gurgaon licensing branch issued several fake arms licences, a probe by the special investigation team (SIT) has revealed. Sources said the gang charged nearly ₹6 lakh for getting such licences issued.
“The role of a few others also cropped up during the investigation and the SIT will scrutinise every licence issued by the licensing branch. Singh’s role was revealed by the accused (Kale) on sustained questioning,” said Anil Kumar, ACP, Sadar, and the head of the SIT.
The SIT was formed after joint commissioner of police Sibash Kaviraj received a complaint pertaining to a licence that turned out to be fake. Later, investigation revealed that a major arms licences racket was being run by Bhardwaj in cahoots with some officials of the licensing branch.
DCP crime Sumit Kuhar said Bhardwaj was not only involved in making fake licences but was also selling replicas of imported weapons for lakhs of rupees to individuals. These weapons were made in Khurja in Bulandshahr, Uttar Pradesh. “Those who have bought weapons through Bhardwaj should come forward and surrender the same. Else, they could also face legal action,” he said.