Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
Two held for manufacturing rifles, selling them
NAVIMUMBAI: A carpenter and an electrician, who started a small rifle manufacturing business by learning the process online, were arrested by the Navi Mumbai crime branch on Tuesday. The accused were found with 10 rifles and a few live cartridges after which the police raided their Karjat workshop in Khalapur.
Parshuram Pirkad, 40, a carpenter, learnt weapon assembling process after he started repairing guns in his village in Khalapur. With the help of his electrician friend Dattaram Pandit, 55, Pirkad ventured into making rifles around a year ago. WhilePirkadknewhowtorepair guns, he took help of online videos to learn how to assemble a rifle, said the police.
On Tuesday, the police arrested Pirkad and Pandit from Panvelwhentheycameonabike carrying 10 country-made rifles and two cartridges in bags.
“The mechanism of the rifle is similar to licensed rifles. We have learnt that the men sold the rifles to at least four people and we are in the process of identifying the buyers. We are also verifying if the sales were made in Navi Mumbai,” said Pravin Patil, deputy commissioner of police, crime.
While a licensed rifles costs anywhere between ₹50,000 and a lakh, the duo would sell their crafted firearms for Rs15,000 to
Rs30,000.
Pirkad would make the weapons out of wood and steel pipes purchased from Kurla, Karjat and Khopoli.
Pirkad has been repairing licensed rifles for around five years while Pandit, who has studied till Class 10, is a certified electrician. The police seized the 12 bore rifles worth ₹1.5 lakh along with eight unfinished rifles, furnishing colour, drill machines and other equipment used to make the guns.
Officers said they are trying to trace two buyers named by the men. The firearms will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Kalina for a ballistics test.
The two have been arrested underprovisionsofIndianArms Act and remanded in police custody till Monday.