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Pimpri-Chinchwad police crime branch seize 42 domestic-made weapons; 15 arrested
Along with the weapons, 66 ‘live’ cartridges and a car have been recovered. The total recovery is estimated to be worth Rs 19,89,500, according to police
The Pimpri-Chinchwad police crime branch has seized 42 domestic-made weapons and arrested 15 people in an attempt to break a supply chain of weapons to the city, according to Sandeep Bishnoi, commissioner, Pimpri-Chinchwad police.
Along with the weapons, 66 ‘live’ cartridges and a car have been recovered.
The total recovery is estimated to be worth Rs 19,89,500, according to police.
“You can guage the number of future crimes that were prevented due to this action. There is a link to Madhya Pradesh. The team worked consistently from March to July to track one of the makers of the weapons. The arms were brought to Maharashtra and sold further from various places, including Pune, Beed, Usmanabad and rural Pune areas. The weapons were used in various crimes, including one in Khadakwasla and Talegaon Dabhade,” said commissioner Bishnoi.
The police team of six also arrested Manisingh Gurmukhsingh Bhatiya, allegedly the main supplier of the weapons from Singhana village in Dhar district of Madhya Pradesh.
Bhatiya was found with 11 weapons and 22 ‘live’ cartridges. He worked with an unidentified partner who is currently on the run.
The police recovered various kinds of weapons including pistols and single bore, hand guns. Three groups of men bought 75 weapons from the MP-based manufacturer, according to senior police inspector Mohan Shinde of Unit 4.
“They bought weapons in bulk and sold it at double the amount they bought it for. They purchased weapons based on the demand,” added API Deshmukh.
The police are in the process of making more arrests and expect to recover at least 19 more weapons in the coming days.
BOXX
Undercover to bust the over-land arms’ sale
According to the Pimpri-Chinchwad police, the weapons from Manisingh Gurmukhsingh Bhatiya were bought in bulk by five people, identified as Kush Nandkumar Pawar from Talegaon Dabhade; Prasanna Dnyaneshwar Pawar from Godumbe, Shirgaon; Akash alias Bala Jagannath Waghmode from Kurduwadi in Solapur; Yogesh Ivtthal Kamble from Paranda in Usmanabad; and Gotu alias Gyanoba Maruti Gite from Parali in Beed.
Kush and Prasanna Pawar operated as one unit while Waghmode and Kamble operated as another unit, police said.
Gite operated alone and was caught by the Pimpri- Chinchwad police on March 6 with six weapons in his possession. That is when the investigation began, according to Sudhir Hiremath, deputy commissioner of police, crime, Pimpri-Chinchwad.
“When we first went there in March, we met with resistance from the Shikalgare community. Then the next time were pretended to be sellers of bedding that we purchased from Solapur. We changed our appearance,” said assistant police inspector (API) Ambrish Deshmukh, Unit 4, Pimpri-Chinchwad police.
The Pawar duo had bought 29 weapons and sold them to nine people including Akash Padalghare, a resident of Mulshi who is already in jail in a case under Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) registered at Paud police station. All the nine have multiple cases registered against them.
The Waghmode-Kamble duo had purchased 27 weapons from MP and had sold them to 10 people, including Somnath alias Soma Ramesh Chavan, a resident of Kalgaon in Karad who is lodged in Satara jail and has a history of 13 cases. The other nine people who purchased these weapons also have an extensive history of criminal cases against them.
