Govt employee, aide held for supplying guns on fake licences

The weapons were sold through various gun shops to criminals without verification of arms licences and no record of buyers was maintained, senior officers said.

Delhi police arrested a 31-year-old junior statistical officer working with the ministry of labour and employment and one of his aides for supplying pistols manufactured in ordnance factories to criminals based in Uttar Pradesh and Delhi on fake arms licences.

The arrested government officer was identified as Insar Khan from Baghpat in UP, who was working as a junior statistical officer in the ministry of labour and employment in Delhi. (Getty Images/iStockphoto (Representative Image))

The weapons were sold through various gun shops to criminals without verification of arms licences and no record of buyers was maintained, senior officers said.

The arrested government officer was identified as Insar Khan from Baghpat in UP, who was working as a junior statistical officer in the ministry of labour and employment in Delhi. Police identified Khan’s aide as Paras Chopra, 36, from Karnal, Haryana. He owns a gun shop in Karnal.

Deputy commissioner of police (crime) Bhisham Singh said they received information on August 4 that a consignment of illegal arms was being supplied from UP to Delhi and would be delivered near India Gate.

“Based on the information, a raid was conducted at a location on Tilak Marg and a suspect later identified Insar Khan was held and one 0.32 bore automatic pistol made in ordnance factory of Kolkata. A magazine and five live cartridges were recovered from Khan,” the DCP said.

During interrogation, the police found he worked in the ministry. “Khan said he collected the pistol from Deepak, a criminal from Baghpat, UP. He said they buy automatic pistols from a gun house on a fake arms licence. A raid was conducted at the identified gun house from where 14 live cartridges and one magazine were recovered. Khan disclosed the name of his associate as Paras Chopra,” police said.

The DCP said Khan joined the government job in 2012. “His first posting was at Pune from 2012 to 2015. He was transferred to Delhi in 2015. He was arrested in 2012 in a case of SSC paper cheating by Lucknow police,” he said.