A 29-year-old cook of a Chinese food stall in Mumbra was arrested on Tuesday when he came to Panvel railway station to deliver katta pistols to an unknown person.
Chandrabahadur Bhimbahadur Sonar alias Kancha, who hails from Nepal, had been staying in Ahmednagar since his childhood. He came to Mumbra a few years ago to take up the job of cook at the food stall. “He was approached by a man asking if he would like to work for him as a supplier. He had promised Rs. 10,000 for the work. Since he was in dire need of money, he took up his first assignment of supplying four katta pistols, one pistol, and three cartridges to a third person,” inspector Manish Kolhatkar of Panvel City police station said. The police received a tip-off and arrested Sonar.
“Sonar neither knows the name nor the phone number of the person who gave him the assignment. He doesn’t even know about the third person. We suspect that the person who was supposed to collect the arms from Sonar was present at the station but fled after he learnt of our presence,” inspector Kolhatkar said.
The police are investigating to trace the person who gave him the arms and the person who was supposed to collect them. Sonar has been arrested under Sections 3/25 of the Arms Act and Sections 33(1)/135 of the Bombay Police Act.
The writer is a freelance journalist
