CBI takes over probe into gun licence scam

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 18

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has formally taken over the investigation to probe the issuance of large-scale gun licences in J&K by submitting forged documents.

The recommendation for the CBI probe was made by former Governor NN Vohra in August after names of a few senior officers came under scanner during the probe into the racket by the state authorities. Before the CBI took over the case, the probe was carried out by J&K’s anti-corruption watchdog State Vigilance Organisation, which had registered two cases.

“We have taken over the two FIRs to probe the large-scale illegal issuance of gun licences,” a senior CBI officer said. “The two cases were registered against unknown officials of various districts of J&K under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Arms Act. In one case, a former DC (Deputy Commissioner) of Kupwara district has been named as an accused.”

There are reports that over 40,000 licences have been issued by the authorities in J&K in over a decade. All of them will come under the CBI radar. Many of the licences have been found to be fake by investigators of the Anti-Terror Squads (ATS) in Rajasthan and Madhaya Pradesh during their separate probes. The Rajasthan ATS had unearthed the licences scam and alerted J&K in 2017. During investigations, the ATS found a nexus between few bureaucrats and arms dealers.

The state authorities have found that no proper record was maintained by the district authorities on the issuance of licences, which were sold for Rs 3-4 lakh each, an official said.

The investigators in J&K had also found that many people had forged the documents of even armed forces to procure licences. In many cases, the letters of commanding officers of forces were forged to get the licences. Unlike locals, the armed forces men can obtain arms licences on a letter of recommendation from their commanding officer. Prior to taking over the case, the CBI officers collected some related documents from the SVO. The J&K Government in July had put a blanket ban on the issuance of licences.

Unearthed in 2017

• Sept 2017:  Rajasthan ATS arrests three arms dealers who supplied arms licences to customers. The probe led to an inter-state racket engaged in issuing licences from J&K
• The ATS found that these licences were being made in Kathua, Kupwara, Ramban and Jammu and were sold for Rs 3 lakh
• June 3, 2018: J&K Home Department ordered verification of all licences
• July 12: Blanket ban on issuing fresh gun licences in J&K
• August 10: J&K urges CBI to probe the scam
• October 16: CBI registers case at Chandigarh to investigate the racket