After a series of raids in Jammu and adjoining districts on Tuesday, the sleuths of Central Bureau of Investigation are close to laying their hands on the biggest gun-running racket. The racket unravels a deep-rooted nexus between bureaucrats and arms dealers in Jammu and Kashmir, and further connects with the organised crime syndicates.
Trunks full of incriminating documents, ledgers, hard disksand files recovered from gun dealers and various government premises in Jammuand Udhampur reveal that norms were thrown to the wind by district magistrateswhile granting licences in bulk. The receipts and sale records found from overfour gun dealers also point out that arm licences were issued in a very largequantity.
A confidential report of Jammu and Kashmir Home Department(AR/151/2017) dated July 2018 reveals: “Dy Commissioners of variousdistricts particularly DC Kupwara and DC Udhampur have issued gun licenceswhich run in thousands. It is also reflected in the report that authorities ofdistricts are involved in malpractices in issuance of arms licences in lieu ofmonetary consideration.”
CBI sources said the role of various senior officials, includingthat of IAS officers, is being probed in connection with serious irregularitiescommitted while granting bulk gun licences.
The nexus between bureaucrats and gun-runners was unravelledwhen Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of Rajasthan police informed the J&Kgovernment in 2017 that arm licences were issued to criminals by authorities indistricts such as Jammu, Kupwara and Kathua. During the interrogation of theaccused persons, the ATS discovered that government officials and licensed armsdealers in J&K were involved.
“We are of the view that persons of criminalbackground, who by law cannot get arms licences, procured these gun licences orgot them renewed. We are gathering evidence on end users,” said a CBIsource.
Meanwhile, in Delhi, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) alsoswung into action. The MHA accessed details from National Database for ArmsLicences (NDAL) for the period 01.01.2017 to 23.08.2018 and foundindiscriminate issuance of licence in various districts of J&K. Obviously,concerned from a security point of view (as the matter relates to J&K), anenquiry was also initiated in New Delhi. Later on the instructions of MHA, thestate government ordered Divisional Commissioners (Jammu/Kashmir) to conduct aprobe in various districts relating to arms licence racket.
The report of the Divisional Commissioners finallycorroborated the ATS findings.
The J&K government then decided to order a CBI probeinto the gun scandal. Sources in the CBI said that various documents are beingscrutinized to identify persons who were issued gun licences. According to anofficial, once the criminal syndicates, which procured the gun licences areidentified, the agency will also probe their links with inter-state gangs.