33 guns issued to dera taken in custody
: Ten days after 38 Dera Sacha Sauda followers were killed in clashes with security forces in the state while protesting sect head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s conviction in a rape case, police on Monday took in custody 33 of the 67 licensed weapons issued to various disciples at the Sirsa headquarters.
Police said the weapons include eight pistols, 14 revolvers and 11 single- and double-barrel .315-bore rifles of which one rifle was found to be modified.
Sadar station house officer (SHO) Dinesh Kumar said, “There are 67 licensed weapons in the name of the dera followers. We got information from the dera administration that it has collected 33 of them and that we should take them from its office. They (the dera followers) modified the .315-bore rifle so that it looks better. All licences of the recovered weapons are updated.”
About the remaining 34 weapons, he said, “We have asked the dera administration to deposit the rest of the weapons as soon as possible else we will take action as per law.”
Sources said dera chairperson Vipassana Insan has urged followers to deposit their weapons with the police.
No press briefing was held by the local administration about the seizures.
Sirsa superintendent of police (SP) Ashwin Shenvi and deputy commissioner (DC) Prabhjot Singh have not communicated with the media properly since August 27.
Anshul Chattrapati, son of journalist Ram Chander Chattrapati, who was allegedly murdered at the behest of the dera head, said, “This is not the first time when the administration adopting such kind of behaviour. We are fighting for the last 15 years. When the dera chief was given Z+ security why the administration issued so many weapon licences to the dera followers? Why do the dera followers need arms when they preach brotherhood?”
“I am going to file an RTI to procure the details of licences of arms and also find out if there was involvement of any politicians or ministers,” Anshul said.
“Sixty seven licences are on record but I am sure that there are more illegal weapons inside the dera. The local administration gave all time to the dera to remove evidence,” Anshul said.
A Right to Information (RTI) (dated June 28, 2007) by Sirsabased Guru Granth Satkar Sabha revealed that 18 arms licences were issued to the dera on different names.
The RTI has revealed that five
POLICE HAVE ASKED THE DERA MANAGEMENT TO DEPOSIT THE REMAINING 34 LICENSED WEAPONS OR FACE ACTION
months after 2007 confrontation with Sikh radicals the Dera Sacha Sauda follower got a licence for rifle on September 29, 2007, in the name of Jairnail Singh.
The first arms licence was issued to the dera in November 1983 in Ram Chand’s name. After that, as many as 49 arms licences have been issued till date.