The Allahabad High Court on Monday stayed the arrest of Ghazipur Member of Parliament Afzal Ansari in three FIRs registered by Ghazipur police over alleged irregularities in the purchase and sale of firearms on his licence, which allegedly went missing.
All three FIRs were registered at Kotwali police station after police allegedly found missing official records, irregularities in weapon transactions and an untraceable rifle purchased on Ansari’s licence.
A bench of Justices Siddharth Varma and Achal Sachdev granted the government time to respond and stayed Ansari’s arrest. It clubbed the three petitions and directed that they be listed after three weeks.
Police have alleged that official records were deliberately removed in collusion with arms clerks. The FIRs name Ansari, former arms clerk Gaurishankar Lal and another clerk, Sugriv Tiwari, and invoke charges of cheating, forgery, criminal conspiracy and relevant provisions of the Arms Act.
According to the petitioner’s counsel, FIRs for missing official documents relating to the years 1983 to 1987 were registered in July 2026, which is highly belated.