R’sthan ATS to quiz ex-Kupwara DMs held in arms licence case
CBI had arrested two former J&K officials over issuing of licences on forged papers; Rajasthan ATS unearthed racket in 2017
JAIPUR: The Rajasthan anti-terror squad (ATS) will interrogate the two former district magistrates of Kupwara in Jammu and Kashmir, who were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday in connection with issuance of arms licences on the basis of forged documents, ATS officials said.
The CBI arrested IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan and a former IAS officer Itrit Hussain Rafiqi in connection with the fake arms licence case.
The Rajasthan ATS unearthed the fake arms licence racket in September 2017 and has arrested 55 people from seven states, seized 70 weapons, 1,181 fake arms licences so far. The fake licences were issued by the authorities in Kathua, Kupwara and Jammu districts.
The Rajasthan ATS had arrested Ranjan’s brother, Kumar Jyoti Ranjan, in July 2018.
An ATS official said around hundreds of arms licences issued between 2012 and 2016 are on the radar of ATS. “Most of the licences were issued during the tenure of Ranjan and Rafiqi from Kupwara district. A team will go to the CBI office to interrogate the two accused,” said the official.
He said Kumar Jyoti Ranjan used to make forged documents and licences for another accused, Rahul Grover. Grover would transfer money from the bank account of Rahul Consultancy, owned by him, to the account of Jap Infratech Limited owned by Ranjan.
Additional director general of police (ADGP), ATS-SOG, Anil Paliwal said they were in touch with other agencies and the ATS investigating officer was working on multiple inputs. “Many arms licences are under the scanner,”
he said.
According to an official release issued by the CBI on Sunday, the agency is probing allegations that senior J&K bureaucrats received bribes for illegally issuing arms licences in bulk to non-residents in violation of rules between 2012 and 2016.
“During further investigation conducted by CBI, the alleged role of Itrit Hussain Rafiqi and Rajiv Ranjan, IAS, both posted then as DM Kupwara has surfaced during their tenure from 2013 to 2015 and from 2015 to 2016 respectively,” said a CBI release.
The ATS had unearthed the fake arms licence racket in September 2017. The main conspirator in the racket was Zuber Khan and his father Mohammad Usman who owns a gun shop in Ajmer. The case was handed over to the CBI on the basis of a recommendation from the then Rajasthan DGP, OP Galhotra.
The racket operated in multiple ways, including getting arms licence from J&K by showing the buyers as army personnel and getting 2008 licences made (as the provision of such arms licences has been legal in J&K). The racketeers had shown the customers as residents of the terror-hit state.
Besides, they also forged documents to present non-J&K residents as living in the terror-hit state as well as army and defence personnel posted in the troubled
Valley. They made J&K arms licenses by using fake stamps and seals.
The chargesheet indicates that a Udaipur man, involved in the business of arms, filed a complaint on August 30, 2017, about Mohammad Zuber, 27, alleging that he was the kingpin of a fake licence racket and offered people a package of fake licence and weapon. During investigation, ATS found that some fake licences in the name of army personnel. Army personnel can get an arms licence from any district they are posted in without a verification. For ordinary people, the arms licence application is processed only after the local police verify that they are residents of the place and have no criminal cases against them.
The charge sheet shows that Zuber made fake licences with the help of Vishal Ahuja of Vishal Arms Corporation (in Abohar district of Punjab), and Rahul Grover of Jammu and Kashmir.
After a licence was made, Zuber bought weapons from Mohammad Zafar of Messrs Wali Gun Shop in Dewas district of Madhya Pradesh.
Zuber and others supplied fake licences and weapons bought on them to various districts of Rajasthan, Mehsana and Patan districts of Gujarat, Mandsaur, Ratlam and other districts of Madhya Pradesh.