ARFAT KHAN
Jammu/Kathua: An inter district arms licence racket involving some officials, agent and dealers helps in issuance of gun licences in utter violation of Arms Act 2016.
The racket operates with triangle of three districts which includes Reasi, Kathua and Jammu.
In a well planed manner, first the beneficiary favoured with issuance of licence for Single Barrel Muzzle Loading (SBML) commonly called country made or desi gun with jurisdiction of tehsil only.
Then, with the help of agent this SBML gun licence reached Kathua where with active cooperation of official it converted into S/DBBL (Single/Double Barrel Breach Loading) gun licence with extended benefit of change of jurisdiction from tehsil to entire Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir. Finally, the gun against this converted licence purchased from City in Jammu district.
Sharing details of this racket, the sources revealed that one Tehsildar posted in Mahore Tehsil of District Reasi had allegedly issued licence of SBML in utter violation of Arms Act 2016.
The licence in question was issued on 3/1/2018 by the then tehsildar Mahore in favour of one Sajad Ahmad s/o Abdul Rashid r/o Bharansal.
“As per Arms Act 2016, Tehsildar is not competent to even issued licence for SBML as the power only vested with District Magistrate” said an officer of DC office Reasi preferring anonymity.
Giving details, sources further revealed that in alleged connivance with officials of District Magistrate office Kathua, a racket involving some gun dealers and agent is minting money by converting the licence of SBML issued by authorities of other districts into S/DBBL licence.
Following this modus operandi, the Additional District Magistrate, Kathua Devinder Singh had converted the desi gun licence number 21/JC dated 03/01/2018 into DBBL by issuing licence number DMK/DC/68/DO 10/09/2019 with extended jurisdiction from tehsil Mohore to entire J&K area.
There is active involvement of one official namely Arun who worked in DC offfice Kathua since long behind this money minting gun licence conversion racket, alleged sources.
Finally, the gun against this upgraded arm licence was purchased from a dealer in Residency Road in Jammu city.
Interestingly, despite vast distance the connection between the trio (beneficiary, issuinance authority and dealer) itself raised eyebrows over the upgradation of arms licence, said a senior officer of DC office Reasi.
It’s worth to mentioned here that CBI has already registered FIRs against several officers besides relatives of senior IAS as well as KAS officer posted in UT J&K for their active involvement in issuance of gun licences at an alarming rate through fraudulent means.
Additional District Magistrate, Kathua Devinder Singh when contacted expressed his ignorance about the issuance of this licence and assured verification about it pertaining to its issuance in violation of arms act 2016.