Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 14: Police today arrested a gun dealer and his associate as a major scam pertaining to fake gun racket was unearthed by police in which three incumbent Deputy Commissioners had prepared licenses of people from outside the State. Police, however, didn’t rule out that signatures of the Deputy Commissioners might have been forged.
Police sources said Mukesh Sharma, a resident of Gadigarh and owner of Scion Gun House, Railway Station and his associate Ashu Sharma of Rayi Morh, Kathua have been arrested and booked at Nowabad police station.
A FIR has been registered in the racket.
Sources said investigations conducted by police have revealed that the accused were in possession of 800 gun licenses, majority of which were fake. The accused had hired a house at Qasim Nagar where three senior officers had reportedly visited and signed the documents.
The accused had been charging Rs 15,000 per license. They were virtually running a parallel office at Qasim Nagar from where police have seized duplicate registers, licenses and stamps.
A clerk during the tenure of one of the former Deputy Commissioner of Jammu had also prepared a number of fake as well as genuine gun licenses of people from outside the State.
Most of the licenses have turned out to be fake during the investigations, police said, adding that verification of other licenses was on.
Of three Deputy Commissioners, whose signs have been found on the gun licenses, one was posted in the Kashmir valley and two in rural districts of Jammu region, sources said, adding the investigations were on to find out whether their signatures and stamps had been forged by the accused.
Follow our WhatsApp channel