ATS nabs fake arms licence racket accused from Ajmer
MODUS OPERANDI They used to get licences by using forged documents for ‘clients’ We have arrested Khan and served notices to the family of those who procured arms on forged licences, asking them to convince their kin to surrender before the antiterrorism squad. BAJRANG SINGH, ATS additional superintendent of police AJMER:
A main accused in the fake arms licence racket, was on Sunday arrested by the Rajasthan anti-terrorism squad (ATS) officials in Ajmer.
The ATS arrested Ziauddin Khan, who was allegedly running a racket for arranging illegal arms licences from Jammu through a group of men at Punjab’s Abhohar.
The gang used to get licenses by using forged document with fake addresses and identity for “clients”, a top ATS official said.
“We have arrested Ziauddin Khan and have served notices to the family members of those who procured arms on forged licences, asking them to convince their kin to surrender before the ATS,” said ATS additional superintendent of police Bajrang Singh.
The arrest came after the ATS carried out raids at two different places in the city--Kundan Nagar and near Anasagar Lake, Singh said.
“The ATS has also served a notice to Sanjay Sharma, a leading city-based jeweller, asking him to surrender,” he said.
“The ATS officials handed over the notice to Sharma’s father, Rameshwar,” Singh said, adding that Sharma is an accused in the case and had procured a weapon on the basis of forged documents.
Ziauddin Khan is the son-inlaw of Usman Khan, a prime accused in the case who is absconding since the incident came to light in September 2017.
The racket was busted by the ATS after one of the top members of the gang, Zuber, Usman Khan’s son, fell into the ATS’ trap in 2017.
Zuber was arrested while he was handing over a fake arms licence and weapons in lieu of more than ₹2 lakh to a decoy of the ATS.
In September 2017, the ATS busted an inter-state racket and since it has arrested more than 44 people, seized 55 weapons and 1,181 fake arms licenses in connection with the case.
The licenses were all made from different districts of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The ATS is in the process of collecting evidence against 22 more people who received illegal arms on fake addresses and identity. The gang was allegedly involved in issuing fake arms licences and also supplying arms by charging more than ₹15 lakh from each applicant.