E-Paper
UP man booked for leaving licensed pistol unattended at Chandigarh bank
The bank manager reported that his colleague noticed a laptop bag left unattended on the front desk; upon opening the bag, he discovered a laptop, charger, diary, PAN card, a pistol and its accompanying licence
A licensed pistol was discovered unattended in a laptop bag at the ICICI bank branch in Sector 28-D on Thursday. The incident led to the registration of an FIR on Friday against the pistol owner, Pawan Kumar Goel, 47, a resident of Baghpat district in Uttar Pradesh, under the Arms Act.
The sequence of events began around 9 am when Chirag, a 33-year-old manager at ICICI Bank, arrived at work.
Chirag reported that his colleague Sanjay noticed a laptop bag left unattended on the front desk. Upon opening the bag, he discovered a laptop, charger, diary, PAN card, a pistol and its accompanying licence.
Alarmed by the discovery of a firearm, the bank staff immediately contacted the police.
Shortly thereafter, the Chandigarh branch received a call from ICICI’s Baghpat branch in Uttar Pradesh, informing them that one of their customers had accidentally left a bag behind. This call was prompted by the customer, Goel, contacting his home branch to secure his forgotten belongings. Goel subsequently contacted the Chandigarh branch directly, explaining that he had visited the branch around 1.40 pm the previous day to deposit ₹3 lakh into two different account numbers before forgetting his bag.
He further stated that he was currently in Shimla and would return to collect the bag within three hours.
During verification, police confirmed that while the pistol was licensed, the owner had reportedly violated Arms Act norms by carrying the weapon into Chandigarh without adhering to the required procedures.
Based on a preliminary inquiry and the written statement of Chirag, police registered an FIR against Pawan Kumar Goel under Sections 30, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. The firearm has been taken into police custody and further investigation is underway to determine whether there was any intent behind carrying the weapon or if it was solely a case of negligence.
