Rajasthan’s rising role in Delhi’s gun underworld

Police data reveals that by May 31 this year alone, 844 firearms and 1,659 rounds of ammunition had been recovered.

Ditching their traditional suppliers in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, gangsters in Delhi are increasingly sourcing their weapons from Rajasthan – where underground manufacturers in Ajmer, Bharatpur and Alwar are flooding the market with sophisticated country-made pistols, often sweetened with a bonus: fake licences, according to senior police officers.

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

For decades, illegal firearms in the Capital bore the stamp of Bihar’s Munger or western Uttar Pradesh. But police crackdowns have reshaped the black market, Delhi Police officials said. Gunrunners in Delhi are now increasingly turning to Rajasthan, where the trade has expanded quietly in villages tucked away from scrutiny.

Special commissioner of police (crime) Devesh Chandra Srivastava said that the recent trend is more or less related to enhanced policing.

“Earlier, the main source of supply was Munger. But when law and order situation started improving there, the illegal gun-manufacturing units shifted Bulandshahr and adjoining districts to western Uttar Pradesh. And when policing was tightened there, the illegal units shifted to Ambedkar Nagar (erstwhile Mhow in Madhya Pradesh). Now, the ‘highly efficient and fine quality’ weapons made illegally in Rajasthan are making inroads in Delhi,” he said. In just three years, police have seized more than 1,500 firearms manufactured in Rajasthan, bound for gangs in Delhi, he added

A rising hub

Investigators familiar with the trend said the new clusters of production – Bilakh, Jurhari, Sikari, Papda, Ladmaka and others in Bharatpur; Palpur, Kharkhadi, Saidampur and Nyana in Alwar – have turned Rajasthan into an emerging hub.

Unlike the crude “desi kattas” of old, these pistols are durable and reliable.

“The earlier weapons overheated, barrels burst, or triggers jammed. These new ones hardly have such issues,” said a Rajasthan Anti-Terror Squad (ATS) officer, asking not to be identified.

With prices ranging from ₹20,000 to ₹1 lakh, they are a fraction of the cost of foreign pistols, which can run up to ₹3.5 lakh. The affordability has widened the market, not just among hardened gangsters but also among people with no criminal background.

For instance, the Rajasthan ATS recently busted a racket spread across Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, seizing pistols, cartridges and hundreds of forged arms licences from Ajmer. In the past five months alone, 450 fake licences have surfaced, with more than 1,000 suspects – among them mine owners, jewellers and industrialists – under scanner.

The Mewat corridor

On Delhi’s doorstep, Mewat – spanning parts of Haryana, UP and Rajasthan – has become the most dependable transit point for traffickers. Its rugged landscape and porous borders make it an ideal hiding ground.

“The topography suits gun-runners. Rail transport is riskier now, so smugglers use road networks, hiding caches in farm produce or household consignments,” said an officer from Delhi Police’s special cell, also asking to be not identified. Couriers, often local tribesmen, have perfected the relay: one rides a motorbike, shadowed by another in a car with the stash ready to dump the cache if chased.

Even when police intercept shipments and arrest carriers, replacements emerge within weeks. “Every second house in some Mewat villages is a weapons shop,” the officer admitted.

The unending market

Despite repeated seizures, Delhi remains saturated with illegal arms. Police data reveals the scale: by May 31 this year alone, 844 firearms and 1,659 rounds of ammunition had been recovered. In 2024, the total haul reached 1,750 firearms and 4,418 rounds. The year before, 1,743 weapons were seized. The peak was 2022, with nearly 1,902 firearms and 5,719 rounds.

These figures underline a grim reality – the Capital’s appetite for guns remains insatiable, sustained by networks that adapt faster than law enforcement can shut them down.

For police, every bust is only a temporary reprieve. For gangsters, Rajasthan’s flourishing gun bazaars have opened a new chapter in the Capital’s long, uneasy romance with firearms.