After the seizure of 49 quintals of explosives in Gaya on Thursday, the arms trail turned back to Patna again as the police on Saturday arrested Subodh Kumar Singh, a major link in the arms chain, and recovered a sizable amount of arms and ammunition from two localities in the city.
Senior Superintendent of Police Vineet Vinayak said Subodh, a resident of Gaya, and his wife were arrested from a flat on Ram Nagri road in Patna’s Rajiv Nagar area on Friday night.
In all, the police recovered 3 INSAS rifles, bullets, 5 VIP lights and 11 forged revenue department number plates.
He said it was likely that the arms were intended to be used by naxals in the wake of the coming elections in Jharkhand.
“The police recovered one pistol, some bullets, a SIM card, 650 rounds of ammunition, a fake driving license and PAN card, in addition to naxal literature from Subodh’s flat.
“On being quizzed, he took the police to another house located in the ‘F’ sector in the Kankarbagh locality of Patna. The house belongs to an accomplice named Prince, alias Rakesh Ranjan. We retrieved 3 INSAS rifles hidden behind a book cabinet, bullets, some naxal literature and a CD,” he said.
Mr. Vinayak said Subodh revealed that he ran a travel agency along with a third person — one Prabhat Singh who resides in the Ashok Nagar locality of the city.
According to the police, Subodh and Prabhat ‘fronted’ the travel agency to transport top Maoist leaders and move ammunition.
Accordingly, the police raided the agency and recovered 5 VIP lights and 11 forged revenue department number plates. They also recovered bullets hidden in a special cavity in the boot of an Ambassador car used by the agency.
The police have taken control of the travel agency and seized its vehicles. A hunt is still on to nab Prince and others involved.
Police and intelligence sources revealed that in the wake of these startling discoveries, the Bihar police have decided to take the help of the neighbouring States’ agencies to help crack down on munition peddlers.
