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Fake arms licence scam: ED raids multiple locations in J&K, detains 2 dealers
ED sleuths launched simultaneous raids at 11 places — three in Kashmir and eight in Jammu, including at Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar localities — from where two arms dealers were picked up for questioning
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday conducted multiple raids in fake arms licence scam in J&K and picked up two dealers from Jammu for questioning, said officials.
“ED sleuths launched simultaneous raids at 11 places — three in Kashmir and eight in Jammu, including at Gandhi Nagar and Trikuta Nagar localities, from where two arms dealers were picked up for questioning,” said senior police officials.
“ED officials have also collected evidences,” they added.
It may be stated here that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) had already taken up the probe into the fake arms licence scam following orders from the Centre.
“Two arms dealers have been picked up by the ED and taken into custody for further questioning. Some bureaucrats are also under scanner,” said officials.
The CBI in its findings had said that ‘fake arms licences in bulk’ were issued in Jammu and Kashmir between 2012 and 2016.
It also stated that 2.78 lakh arms licences were issued to ‘non-entitled persons’.
On July 24 last year, the CBI had conducted searches at multiple locations in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi in connection with its investigation.
Between 2012 and 2016, deputy commissioners of various districts in Jammu and Kashmir had fraudulently and illegally issued bulk arms licences in lieu of monetary consideration. The arms licence scam allegedly involving deputy magistrates was unearthed by the Rajasthan ATS in 2017.
The CBI had registered a case following the consent of J&K government and further notification from the Centre in 2018.
It was being probed by the J&K Police before CBI was handed over the case by the then governor NN Vohra.
Arms licences in bulk were allegedly issued by the then deputy magistrates in J&K to non-residents on forged documents, sources added.
The CBI had in December 2019 carried out searches at over a dozen locations in Srinagar, Jammu, Gurugram and Noida on the premises of the then deputy magistrates of Kupwara, Baramulla, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Shopian, Rajouri, Doda, Pulwama, and several other places.
The Rajasthan ATS in 2017 had also arrested over 50 people for their alleged involvement in the illegal issuance of arms licences. According to the ATS, over 3,000 permits were granted allegedly in the name of army personnel.
The CBI had registered two cases on the request of J&K government and further notification from Centre, and taken over the investigation of two FIRs (number 18 dated May 17, 2018, earlier registered at police station vigilance organisation Kashmir (VOK) and FIR number 11 dated May 17, 2018, of police station vigilance organisation Jammu (VOJ) on the allegations of bulk issuance of arms licences.
The agency had also collected documents pertaining to the issuance of said armed licences allegedly spread over 22 districts of the erstwhile state of J&K.
