: Three months after the Delhi Police’s Special Cell seized 13 pistols from a gang running a gun racket, 43 more pistols have been seized from two persons who allegedly worked for the gang.
The first arrest was made on Thursday, when the police received a tip-off that one of the men, Hari, would be going to central Delhi’s Shantivan.
As many as 20 pistols were seized from him, the police said.
Breakthrough
On sustained interrogation, he purportedly revealed that he had recently supplied 25 pistols to one Yogender Singh Rajput in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh.
A police team was sent to Madhya Pradesh, and Rajput was arrested with 23 pistols. Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, DCP (Special Cell), said a three-month investigation led to the two arrests.
Rajput is allegedly a regular arms supplier, and has been arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Police in the past under the Arms Act. He has been in the business for 10 years, said the DCP.
Hari allegedly confessed to have supplied at least 200 pistols to small-time illegal weapon suppliers in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh.
“Hari would bring the consignment from MP by train by concealing the pistols in secret cavities of specially-designed bags,” said Mr. Yadav.
Big business
The pistols would be bought by the two suppliers at Rs. 15,000 each and sold for anywhere between Rs. 30,000 and Rs. 40,000.
The weapons are manufactured in three Madhya Pradesh villages bordering Maharashtra, said the police.
“These thinly-populated villages are located in jungle areas. They use certain machines to manufacture these pistols which are of high quality and thus difficult to differentiate from imported pistols,” said the DCP.
Cause for concern
Meanwhile, the Special Cell claimed to have seized 347 pistols and nine country-made guns already this year.
Before this seizure, the Delhi Police had recovered 460 illegal firearms till September this year.
This was 30 more than the seizures made in the same period last year.
