JAMMU: Taking investigation to its logical conclusion in fake arms licence case, the Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday raided 42 locations in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh which also includes residential premises of serving and retired IAS officers besides KAS officers 14 and lower echelons government officials as well as 5 private persons (middlemen/agents) and 10 dealers of Arms and ammunition.
The agency raided the premises of four IAS officers which includes Sajjad Ahmad Khan (retired), Baseer Ahmad Khan (Retd), M. Raju and Prasanna Ramaswany G.
Recently, the CBI had raided the official residence of IAS offficer Shahid Iqbal Choudhary in Srinagar and prior to that residence of another 2 IAS officer Yasha Mudgal and Kumar Rajiv Ranjan were also raided by CBI pertaining to gun licence scandal.
The CBI also raised the premises of J&K Administrative Service officers Nisar Ahmad Wani, M.S. Mallik, Farooq Ahmad Khan and Bashir Ahamad Khan.
As per reports, the CBI also carried raids at the premises of then District Information Officer, Sanjay Puri.
The raids were carried out in Srinagar, Anantnag, Banihal, Baramulla, Jammu, Doda, Rajouri, Kishtwar (Jammu and Kashmir), Leh, Delhi and Bhind in Madhya Pradesh.
During the searches, incriminating documents including issuance of arms licence, list of beneficiaries, documents related to investment in FDRs and other sale proceeds, property documents, bank account details, locker keys, diary comprising incriminating details, arms licence registers, electronic gadgets, mobile phones and some cash, including old currency, were recovered.
The agency had registered two cases on the request of then Jammu and Kashmir government and following further notification from the government of India.
The agency took over over the investigation of two FIRs, registered on May 17, 2018 in J&K on the allegations of bulk issuance of arms licences in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir during the period 2012 to 2016.
It was alleged that more than 2.78 lakh arms licences were issued to the non-entitled persons. The CBI also collected documents pertaining to the issuance of the said armed licences, allegedly spread over 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
During investigation and scrutiny of documents, the role of certain gun dealers came to light, who in connivance with the public servants, i.e., the then District Magistrate and Additional District Magistrate of the concerned districts, had allegedly issued such illegal arms licences to outsiders by faking them as army jawans posted in J&K.