M A I N   N E W S

Politician-official nexus?
Arms licence scam
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepore, September 8
The fate of inquiry pertaining to fake arms licence scandal is hanging in balance with both the Punjab and Haryana Government officials locking horns by portraying different versions of the same story.

In a reply to the petition filed by the Congress leaders seeking a CBI inquiry into the scam, the Punjab Government has termed the allegations of involvement of senior Akali leaders in the case as politically motivated. Interestingly, the Haryana police, which had taken a serious view of the matter following the arrest of some hardcore gangsters with fake arms licence issued by the Ferozepore licensing authorities, does not rule out the involvement of political bigwigs and bureaucrats and agrees to most of the points raised by the petitioners.

The petitioners, Mr Mohinder Rinwa and Mr Hans Raj Jossan, both former MLAs, in their plea has asserted that more than 30,000 arms licence had been issued in Ferozepore out of which not less than 50 per cent were fake with fictitious addresses. According to the official data, over 27000 arms licence had been issued in Ferozepore in last three years. It became a hot issue with the arrest of wanted criminals in different parts of Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, who got their firearms licences issued from here.

The petitioners has alleged that the licences to these notorious criminals were issued at the behest of a nexus of politicians, officials, arms dealers, their agents and police officials of the area. While the Haryana police in a reply through the Jhajjar SP has not in any way objected to the petitioner’s view point that this being a serious matter concerning security aspect, the inquiry should be handed over to the CBI, the Punjab Government in a reply through the Home Secretary and the Deputy Commissioner stated that the issue was unnecessary being flared up. According to certain unconfirmed reports, some of the arrested criminals who got firearms licence issued from here even belonged to the gang of underworld don, Dawood Ibrahim. The four clerks of the LPC branch working in Deputy Commissioner office here had admitted before the Jhajjar police that these licences were made under pressure at the behest of some bureaucrats and political stalwarts of the region. They had even claimed that they possessed applications by personal assistants of these leaders recommending the same. These clerks confessed before the Haryana police that they were paid only Rs 200 to 500 per licence, which was peanuts as compared to the amount allegedly pocketed by their superior bosses.

Earlier, a case had been registered in this connection by the Ferozepore police and the investigations had been initiated by the district administration but the officials here seem to be in evasive mood as far as the status of the inquiry is concerned. Although, the administration has begun investigations into the scam by physically verifying all the licences made during the last few years but it is alleged to be an eyewash. They opine that instead of nabbing senior officials under whose nose the scam broke, “small fry” like nambardars and clerks were being made scapegoat.

Mr Baldev Singh Sodhi, 85-year-old nambardar of Sodhiwala village claims that he is being falsely implicated in the fake arms licence case pertaining to attestation of person with criminal background as he knows only Urdu language and the attestation on the licence shows his signature in English. Mr S.R. Ladhar, Deputy Commissioner here, said all firearm licences made so far were being physically checked and if their authenticity was not proved, all such cases licencees would be issued notices and then their licences would be cancelled.

The petitioner dissatisfied by the investigation exercise initiated by the district administration contended that it was not possible for the local Deputy Commissioner and police officials to conduct fair investigation as senior politicians of the area were involved in the racket who could easily influence these officials. Raising their demands for a CBI inquiry, they said the local administration was not cooperating with the Haryana police in the matter.

Last year also following the arrest of some gangsters in Delhi who had their firearm licences issued from Ferozepore, an inquiry was initiated but the issue was pushed under the carpet in a very clandestine manner.

Mr S.R. Ladhar had earlier suspended six clerks of the licence and passport branch, and issued notices to others who had allegedly shown laxity on their part while issuing licences to the persons with criminal backgrounds. These clerks were then issued notices by the Jhajjar police under Section 160 of the CrPC, followed by their arrest when they had gone to Jhajjar to present themselves and assist in the verification of these fake licences. The Jhajjar police had also issued notice under Section 160 of the CrPC to former ADM Ferozepore, Mr R.G. Sahota, who was looking after the branch concerned from 1997 till the time he retired early this year. When contacted, the licence and passport branch clerks dealing with the issuance of these arms licences pleaded innocence and asserted that they had issued these licences under pressure and in a hurry without verifying the records.

In the petition, it has been contended that norms have been flouted by the police too, as instead of sending applications to the SSP office these were directly sent to the SHO who in turn sent them back without proper verification to the SP (Headquarters). Not only this, even the seal of the SSP was misused due to which licences with fake addresses could be prepared. While the Jhajjar police agrees to the theory forwarded by the petitioners, the SSP Ferozepore, Mr H.S. Sidhu, Senior Superintendent of Police denies any ambiguity in police functioning. He said any police officer if found guilty after the inquiry would be taken to task. Mr Ladhar said the new format has been prepared by the district administration for the issuance of arms licence in which the administration had tried to plug all loopholes, but whether it is successful in plugging these loopholes is yet to be ascertained.