Pvt security guards, arms licences from J&K under police lens

Police in Bihar have detected indiscriminate use of firearms licences procured from Jammu & Kashmir by people working as private body guards of men with political clout.

The arrest of two persons carrying a modified rifle, a pump gun, pistol, revolver and 27 live cartridges from Danapur police station on Friday morning snowballed into a big issue on Saturday, when the police detected indiscriminate use of firearms licences procured from Jammu & Kashmir by people working as private body guards of men with political clout.

Gun-toting private security guards in Bihar have drawn police attention. (HT)

“We got information that RJD MLA Reetlal Yadav was moving around with two private security guards. Upon verification, it was found that both the guards, Bheem Prasad and Vijay Prasad Yadav, possessed double-barrel gun, a pistol and a revolver. They were arrested and their weapons seized. The licenses for weapons had been issued by additional district magistrate (ADM) of Udhampur in J&K for self-protection, but they were using it as a private security guard without any permission. It is against the provisions under the Arms Act. None of the two licences is registered in Patna,” said Danapur assistant superintendent of police (ASP) AbhinavDheeman.

The ASP said the police had launched a drive to check the growing use of private security guards. “For MLAs, there is already a provision of three security guards and Yadav has also been provided that,” he said.

The SSP said the arrest of three persons with firearms while sailing on a boat in the Ganga was the trigger for the drive. The police had to chase the motorized boat carrying eight persons, including three with arms, to catch them.

Patna district magistrate Dr Chandrashekhar Singh said two persons with arms , Sanjit and Alakh, were private bodyguards of Raju Jaiswal, who is sad to be an aspiring candidate for the election of vice-chairman for Danapur Nagar Parishad. “The rifle licence was found to be issued, again, from Udhampur. The gun had been issued in the name of Sweta Raj, wife of Raju Jaiswal. The arms licence of Sanjit and Sweta were also issued from Jammu and Kashmir, but their unique identification number was not found on the national portal concerned,” he said.

A police officer said that use of private security guards has grown manifold, as they could be seen with political leaders, builders, contractors etc. to show their influence in public. “This also leads to fear psychosis among general masses, as there have been instances of private security guards using their unnecessary influence,” he said, adding that a big racket has been involved in the fake arms licence racket across the state.