Patiala, November 3
A black Bolero vehicle with additional space beneath the seats containing as many as 15 firearms and more than 10,000 cartridges of different bores was seized by the Patiala police here last evening. The president and general secretary of the Peoples War Group (Naxalite Federation) and a local gun dealer travelling in the vehicle were arrested unmasking a nexus between gun dealers of Punjab and Haryana and various militant factions in Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand.
Punjab police Director-General of Police (DGP) M.S. Bhullar briefed newsmen about the seizure and showed them the specially fitted Bolero vehicle.
Stating details of the seizure, the DGP said Patiala SSP Paramraj Singh Umranangal received a tip-off a few days ago that some suspicious people were roaming in a black Bolero. He said a special nakabandi was organised under the direction of SP (D) B.S. Virk which led to the siezure of the Bolero near the Railway Crossing No. 23 yesterday.
Mr Bhullar said the president of the PWG (Naxalite Federation), Vijay Kumar, a resident of Dehari Aaun Saun in Rohtas district of Bihar, the group’s general secretary, Sita Ram of the same district, Rajkumar Mehra of Bara Banki in Uttar Pradesh and proprietor of the local Amarjit Gun House, Kartar Singh Sodhi, were arrested and the vehicle, which had a Madhya Pradesh number, was seized.
Besides four rifles, including a Spring Field rifle, one double-barrel gun, two MLG guns, two air guns and two .32 bore revolvers, the police seized 7,000 cartridges of .22 bore, 3,000 cartridges of 315 bore, 175 cartridges of 303 bore, 200 cartridges of 12 bore and seven cartridges of 38 bore. Besides, 12 fake arms licences issued by different authorities, including the Home Secretary of Bihar and several Deputy Commissioners of Bihar, Assam and Jharkhand, were also
seized by the police. As much as Rs 4.80 lakh in cash was also seized from the representatives of the PWG.
Disclosing the modus operandi of the gang, SSP Umranangal said they used to get fake arms licences from different authorities and then approach gun houses in Punjab and Haryana which used to knowingly supply them with guns against these licences for a heavy amount. He said the gun houses used to supply those guns to Naxalites which were lying unclaimed with them because of death of the owner or other problems.
He said initial
interrogation of the accused had revealed that they had been carrying on with this operation for quite some
time and as many as 30 carbines, 12 .45 bore revolvers, 30 .38 bore revolvers and 20 9mm pistols besides more than 15,000 cartridges of different bores had been bought by them from various gun houses in Punjab and Haryana. He said as many as six gun houses which had been selling arms to the naxalites had been identified. These
included Nabha Gun House, Nabha, Shiv Shakti Gun House, Ludhiana, Shiva Gun House, Banaras, Kanpur Gun House, Thind Gun House, Lehra Ghagga, and Indian Gun House, Mansa.
Mr Umranangal said the main leader of the gang who had been identified as Anad ji of Bihar and some others, including arms dealers, were still to be arrested in the case, adding that a task force under Inspector Didar Singh had been formed for the purpose.
