News Analysis India

Tag: Arms Act

  • Amritpal Singh’s aide Varinder booked under Arms Act in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar

    By PTI

    KISHTWAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday booked Varinder Singh, suspected to be the bodyguard of the fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, under the Arms Act in connection with a gun licence issued to him in Kishtwar district, officials said.

    The district administration also cancelled Varinder Singh’s licence, and said it will probe how the former army jawan, who was sacked in 2015, procured the licence in 2014 and then kept getting it renewed in different districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Police said Varinder Singh, also known as Fauji, was part of a private security set up for radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is on the run.

    A video recently showed Varinder Singh, the bodyguard of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, opening fire in the air.

    After the clip appeared, the Punjab Police arrested him last week, slapped the National Security Act on him and lodged him in a jail in faraway Assam.

    ALSO READ | In new video, Amritpal says he’s fine, calls for Sarbat Khalsa on Baisakhi

    Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Khalil Poswal told PTI on Thursday that there was also a need to investigate how Varinder Singh got the licence.

    “Accordingly, we have lodged an FIR under number 52/2023 under section 3/25/30 Arms Act and provisions of IPC registered in police station Kishtwar,” he said.

    He further said that police has conveyed the details of the case to Punjab Police and sought documents from them.

    “We will seek the presence of that person. He (Varinder Singh) will be brought here to conduct an investigation and to find out how he reached here and how he got his license from here.”

    Giving further details, he said that the gun license was issued to him in 2014 from Kishtwar Deputy Magistrate (DM) office.

    He said the CID wing of the Punjab Police recently wrote to the DM Kishtwar that there was misuse of his gun license.

    “The matter was activated and Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar cancelled gun license,” the SSP said.

    Poswal said that police will have to ascertain under which circumstances the gun license was issued to him in the first place as his army unit was never posted here in Kishtwar.

    “He was a jawan of the 96 regiments and was terminated in 2015. After issuance, his gun licence was getting renewed. The licence has been validated till 2025 from Ramban, Reasi, Baramulla and Kathua. There is a need to investigate the case,” the SSP said.

    ALSO READ | Close to catching Amritpal, says Punjab govt as fugitive preacher spotted without turban

    As for verification by the Police before granting a gun license to him, he said that there was a letter from then commandant to DM.

    “On that certificate, the gun licence was issued. There was certification or verification by Police in Kishtwar in this case,” the SSP said.

    Amritpal Singh, meanwhile, remains elusive since the police crackdown against him and members of his pro-Khalistan ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit began on March 18, about three weeks after he and his supporters stormed into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.

    The preacher escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearances.

    He and his associates have been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempts to murder, attacks on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

    KISHTWAR: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Thursday booked Varinder Singh, suspected to be the bodyguard of the fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, under the Arms Act in connection with a gun licence issued to him in Kishtwar district, officials said.

    The district administration also cancelled Varinder Singh’s licence, and said it will probe how the former army jawan, who was sacked in 2015, procured the licence in 2014 and then kept getting it renewed in different districts of Jammu and Kashmir.

    Police said Varinder Singh, also known as Fauji, was part of a private security set up for radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is on the run.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    A video recently showed Varinder Singh, the bodyguard of Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, opening fire in the air.

    After the clip appeared, the Punjab Police arrested him last week, slapped the National Security Act on him and lodged him in a jail in faraway Assam.

    ALSO READ | In new video, Amritpal says he’s fine, calls for Sarbat Khalsa on Baisakhi

    Kishtwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Khalil Poswal told PTI on Thursday that there was also a need to investigate how Varinder Singh got the licence.

    “Accordingly, we have lodged an FIR under number 52/2023 under section 3/25/30 Arms Act and provisions of IPC registered in police station Kishtwar,” he said.

    He further said that police has conveyed the details of the case to Punjab Police and sought documents from them.

    “We will seek the presence of that person. He (Varinder Singh) will be brought here to conduct an investigation and to find out how he reached here and how he got his license from here.”

    Giving further details, he said that the gun license was issued to him in 2014 from Kishtwar Deputy Magistrate (DM) office.

    He said the CID wing of the Punjab Police recently wrote to the DM Kishtwar that there was misuse of his gun license.

    “The matter was activated and Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar cancelled gun license,” the SSP said.

    Poswal said that police will have to ascertain under which circumstances the gun license was issued to him in the first place as his army unit was never posted here in Kishtwar.

    “He was a jawan of the 96 regiments and was terminated in 2015. After issuance, his gun licence was getting renewed. The licence has been validated till 2025 from Ramban, Reasi, Baramulla and Kathua. There is a need to investigate the case,” the SSP said.

    ALSO READ | Close to catching Amritpal, says Punjab govt as fugitive preacher spotted without turban

    As for verification by the Police before granting a gun license to him, he said that there was a letter from then commandant to DM.

    “On that certificate, the gun licence was issued. There was certification or verification by Police in Kishtwar in this case,” the SSP said.

    Amritpal Singh, meanwhile, remains elusive since the police crackdown against him and members of his pro-Khalistan ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit began on March 18, about three weeks after he and his supporters stormed into the Ajnala police station near Amritsar to secure the release of an arrested man.

    The preacher escaped the police net in Jalandhar district on March 18, switching vehicles and changing appearances.

    He and his associates have been booked under several criminal cases related to spreading disharmony among classes, attempts to murder, attacks on police personnel and creating obstructions in the lawful discharge of duty by public servants.

  • Delhi Police gets Lawrence Bishnoi’s custody in Arms Act case, to question him again in Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Delhi Police’s Special Cell on Tuesday got three-day custody of gangster Lawrence Bishnoi after arresting him from Tihar in a case of Arms Act and will question him again in connection with the killing of famous Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala, officials said.

    On Monday also, a team of Special Cell had interrogated Bishnoi, who is facing nearly 60 cases, in Tihar.

    Sangster Kala Jathedi and his aide Kala Rana, who were in police custody in a different case, were also questioned in connection with the killing of Moosewala.

    According to officials, after questioning him in Tihar prisons where he was lodged in Central Jail no 8, Bishnoi was produced at the Patiala House court and was remanded in three days of police custody for questioning in connection with the case where three criminals were arrested after a brief encounter with the Special Cell’s unit last month.

    During interrogation, the arrested criminals had disclosed that the weapons recovered from them were supplied by Bishnoi, a senior police official said.

    Bishnoi faces charges under the Arms Act and other sections related to assault on a public servant in the case.

    “Since Bishnoi has been taken into police custody, we will also be questioning him in connection with the killing of Moosewala in Punjab,” he added.

    The development comes a day after a Delhi court refused to entertain a plea filed by Bishnoi seeking a direction to the jail authorities not to give his custody to Punjab police, which suspects that he had plotted the singer’s killing.

    Bishnoi has moved the Delhi High Court which will hear on Wednesday his plea claiming apprehension of a fake encounter by the Punjab Police.

    The plea has sought direction to the Tihar Jail authority and the Delhi Police to ensure necessary safeguards are taken for his safety before giving his custody to any other state police, including the Punjab Police.

    The petition has been listed before Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma for hearing on Wednesday.

    Punjab Police had on Sunday said the killing of Moosewala seemed to be the result of an inter-gang rivalry and that the Lawrence Bishnoi gang was involved in it.

    “On Tuesday, gangster Bishnoi was questioned for a few hours by the Special cell unit and then was arrested in a different case. He was then taken to a Delhi Court to get his police custody,” a jail official said.

    When contacted, Bishnoi’s advocate Vishal Chopra told PTI that “Lawrence Bishnoi has been taken into three days of police remand in a different case. It has nothing to do with the Moosewala killing case.”

    Bishnoi has been taken into police custody in connection with an old case of firing and Arms Act wherein the arrested criminal cited that he had sourced the weapon from Bishnoi.

    He would be next produced before the court on June 4, he added.

    Moosewala was shot dead on Sunday by unidentified assailants in Punjab’s Mansa district, a day after the state government curtailed his security cover.

    Moosewala’s cousin and a friend, who were travelling in a Mahindra Thar jeep with him, were also injured in the attack.

    According to police, Bishnoi has been arrested in FIR NO.83/22 in which three prime sharpshooters of the dreaded ‘Gogi Gang’ – Mukesh (32), Harvinder (29) and Shakti (22) – were involved in different incidents of firing on rival gang members, their family members, the house of Assistant Superintendent of TiharJail and killing prime eyewitness of a murder case.

    Three sophisticated pistols and 11 live cartridges along with one motorcycle, were recovered from their possession, police said.

  • Court dismisses plea against Salman Khan for ‘false affidavit’ in Arms Act case

    By Express News Service
    JAIPUR: The Jodhpur District and Sessions Court on Thursday let off actor Salman Khan in a case related to submitting a false affidavit in court. 

    The court dismissed a plea filed by the Rajasthan government against the actor for allegedly submitting a false affidavit in the Jodhpur session court in 2003, during his hearing in a case related to the poaching of two blackbucks in Jodhpur in 1998.

    Salman was present through video conferencing as the court delivered its verdict. In the final hearing two days ago, Salman’s lawyers had apologised for ‘mistakenly’ submitting a false affidavit in the Jodhpur session court in 2003. They had pleaded that the actor be forgiven as he had submitted a wrong affidavit not deliberately but because of his busy schedule which led to oversight and the submission of the wrong affidavit. 

    After the verdict, the actor’s lawyer, Hastimal Saraswat said, “Jodhpur District and Sessions Court dismissed both the pleas of the State Government in a detailed order. We had replied in 2006 that no false affidavits were presented and such pleas are being furnished only to disturb Salman Khan.”

    The Rajasthan government had in 2006 submitted a plea accusing Khan of submitting a fake affidavit. In 1998, Khan was booked in four different cases of poaching black bucks and chinkaras during the shooting of the film ‘Hum Saath Saath Hain’. In one of those cases, he was booked under the Arms Act. During the hearing of this case, he was asked to submit his arms licence. The state government made the accusation after the actor submitted an affidavit in court claiming that he had lost his weapon’s licence, when it had actually gone for renewal. The prosecution had asked the court to take action against Khan under Section 340 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in 2006. Public prosecutor Bhavani Singh Bhati had then demanded that a case of misleading the court should be filed against the actor. 

    The verdict comes as a major relief for Khan as he could have faced a jail term of upto seven years had he been pronounced guilty in the case.

  • Court to pronounce order on February 11 on plea against Salman Khan for ‘false’ affidavit in Arms Act case

    By PTI
    JODHPUR: A District and Sessions court is likely to pronounce on Thursday its order on a plea against actor Salman Khan for alleged submission of a false affidavit related to his arms licence in the court in 2003.

    Arguments on the applications were completed on Tuesday and Judge Raghvendra Kachhwala reserved the order for February 11.

    The trial court had in June 2019 absolved Khan of the allegation of filing a false affidavit.

    But the state government had filed an appeal against this order in the District and Sessions court.

    Khan had filed the affidavit in the court in 2003 in the case against him under Arms Act stating that he had lost his arms licence.

    The prosecution had argued that he had submitted a false affidavit as his licence was not lost but submitted for renewal.

    “We argued that it was not intentional to submit this affidavit as Khan was a busy actor and had no exact idea about his licence at that time,” said Khan’s counsel HM Saraswat said.

    He argued that if the accused has submitted a false affidavit by mistake and he has no advantage of such an act, he should be forgiven and absolved from the allegations.

    The prosecution had already completed its arguments in the matter while the defence concluded on Tuesday.

    The matter is linked to a case against Khan under the Arms Act, in which the actor had been accused of keeping arms with an expired licence and using them for poaching.