A major arms racket was on Friday busted by Uttar Pradesh STF when it arrested five security personnel and a retired sub-inspector for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to anti-social groups like Naxals.
The arrests, including that of two CRPF jawans, were made on the basis of inputs that after the Dantevada Naxal attack, in which 76 security personnel were killed, a large quantity of cartridges were being smuggled out of the CRPF group centre at Rampur via a source in Allahabad.
A team of special task force carried out raids in Moradabad, Rampur and Jhansi and arrested Vinod Paswan and Dinesh Singh of the CRPF last night, ADG (Law and Order) Brij Lal said in Lucknow. Besides, a constable armourer in Moradabad Police Academy and a retired sub inspector armourer of 36 Battalion PAC, who is said to be the kingpin, were also arrested along with two policemen in Jhansi today, he said.
Over 5,000 live cartridges, 16 magazines of INSAS rifles, .25 bore guns, SLR and AK-47s were recovered besides 245 kg of empty shells, Lal said. "Going by the size of recovery, it is clear that the weapons were being supplied to some big organisation which could even be a Naxal outfit.
Further details will be known only after completion of the investigations," he said. More arrests could follow in the coming days as the interrogation of the arrested revealed that they have contacts in different districts like Chandauli, Basti, Gonda and Kanpur.
The police chiefs of these districts have been asked to carry out raids on the houses of the personnel whose names have cropped up, Lal said. CRPF, meanwhile, has suspended both its personnel and ordered an immediate Court of Enquiry.
CRPF DG Vikram Srivastava told PTI, "We have suspended both the personnel and have also ordered an immediate Court of Enquiry. We are in constant touch with Uttar Pradesh Police and are extending all help to them."
Earlier, Brij Lal said the gang might have been active in the past year and that police would ask for their custody to unearth their links as also details of groups to which they were supplying the weapons.
"Our main suspicion is that they could be supplying the cartridges to some Naxal organisation but details would be known only after completion of the investigation," he officer said.
On the recovery of large quantity of used cartridges, Lal said they could be meant for replacing with live ones at the firing ranges.
It has also come to light that the arrested were being helped by their colleagues posted at PAC Gonda, Varanasi, Kanpur, Allahabad, Varanasi, Basti, Jhansi and PTC Moradabad, Chandauli, Mirzapur and Sonebhadra, he said.
The main supplier of the cartridges was CRPF armourer Vinod Paswan who along with his colleague Vinesh Singh used to sell them to the retired sub inspector Yashoda Nandan Singh. And the places where they were being bought and sold were Rampur, Moradabad, Gorakhpur, Lucknow , Lal said.
Those arrested also includes Nathi Ram -- armourer Moradabad Police Academy Vansh Lal and Akhilesh Pandey (both constable armourer posted in Jhansi), he said. PTI
