M A I N   N E W S

Delhi criminals’ links
Arms licences secured from UT, Punjab
From Syed Ali Ahmed

NEW DELHI, May 19 — Persons facing criminal charges in the Capital have secured arms licence from Chandigarh, Amritsar and Ferozepore districts in connivance with middlemen, Deputy Commissioner of Police (central district), Muktesh Chander said.

The licences were issued allegedly from District Magistrates’ offices in Chandigarh, Ferozepore and Amritsar.

Recently, four accused, Jagmohan alias Mohar Singh of Daryaganj, Dinesh Kumar of Karol Bagh, Kuldeep Singh and Kharag Singh of Jharoda Kalan, were arrested and arms licences issued from these places were seized from them.

The DCP said that Jagmohan, a registered bad character of the Capital and also involved in the sensational murder case of property dealer, Satish Kohli, in 1998 had obtained licence of a .32 bore revelver. His licence bore address of Amritsar though he had never been there.

The licence of Dinesh Kumar has address of Sector 20-A, Chandigarh. He was issued licence of .32 bore revolver allegedly by District Magistrate, Chandigarh. His licence number is 99/DM/CH/92/PS-05.

Two other bad characters, Kuldeep Singh and Kharag Singh were issued licences allegedly by District Magistrate Ferozepore. The licence number of Kuldeep is 966 while Khrag’s number is 690. They were reportedly involved in 10 criminal cases, the DCP said.

The accused are reportedly involved in criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, robbery and kidnapping, the DCP said.

The DCP said his counterparts in Chandigarh and Punjab had been intimated about this racket.

The DCP said that it was mandatory for the police to make a thorough inquiry about the person’s background and verify the residential address before issuing an arms licence.

In the case of the accused, the police verification, it appears, had not been done. They do not belong to Chandigarh and Punjab and yet they were issued licences. The addresses given on their licences were also fake.

The DCP said the accused would have procured licences with the help of touts active in Chandigarh and districts of Punjab.

The accused allegedly paid Rs 58,000 to obtain a licence from Chandigarh, Ferozepore and Amritsar.

According to the DCP it is mandatory on the part of the area police to check and verify the applicants antecedents. But the Punjab Police has been clearly flouting these norms, he added.

The DCP said that ‘‘we have repeatedly sent notices and reminders to the District Magistrates concerned regarding the racket but are yet to get an intimation"

Ajay Banerjee adds from Chandigarh: Chandigarh Administration has been alerted by the Delhi Government that a full fledged racket in obtaining gun licences from Chandigarh, besides several places in Punjab, is operating in the city with criminals facing serious charges in Delhi and it surrounding areas of Western Uttar Pradesh managing licences in connivance with middlemen. 

The tip off came from Delhi after a licence purportedly issued from Chandigarh was recovered from Dinesh Kumar, a criminal who was arrested along with 3 other notorious criminals in the national capita a few days ago. On the licence was a fake address of Sector 20 --A and he was issued a licence of .32 revolver allegedly by the District Magistrate , Chandigarh. His Licence number is 99/DM/CH/92/PS-05. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (central district), New Delhi has informed the Chandigarh officials that the criminals and the licences they possessed. 

Similar information has been sent to Ferozepore and Amritsar authorities from where other licences had been procured by allegedly paying huge sums to middlemen to procure the licences. These persons have never lived in these cities but were issued gun licences while facing criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, robbery and kidnapping , the Delhi authorities have said. Meanwhile , the local District Magistrate, Mr M. Ramsekhar, says ''I call all licencees for a personal interview before issuing any licence.'' Verification of antecedents of the applicants is carried out by the police authorities, the DM added. He said ''so far no case has come from Delhi. But once it comes we will definitely go through our records.'' A major racket in issuance of licences was unearthed in Haryana some time back. 

Though the case of Chandigarh could be just a tip of an ice berg, sources say that keeping in mind the VIP nature of the city licences have been issued in the past to persons close to the powers that be. In some cases even small time leaders of labour colonies have been issued licences. Almost all of them hail from Uttar Pradesh and are now keen on gaining a countrywide licence or even a transit licence, sources said. But Dinesh Kumar's case will open a pandora's box in which the nature of the police verification and its authenticity and accuracy will come under a cloud.