Punjab Police has launched a state-wide audit of working of arms dealers and licensing branches after gun dealers in the state were found to be selling arms to gangsters in the state.

Disclosing this on Thursday, the Director General of Police (DGP), Dinkar Gupta, said a major crackdown on illegal supply of weapons by unscrupulous weapon dealers has led to recovery of 30 weapons from the various criminals arrested during raids.

These included 14 DBBL 12 bore, four SBBL 12 bore, five 32 bore pistols, one 45 bore pistol, three 30 bore pistols, one 25 bore pistol and two Carbines. Following the recovery of these illegal weapons, several gun house dealers have been booked and thorough investigations are underway.

The above action resulted from the further investigation into the cases related to the recently arrested ‘A’ category gangster Sukhpreet Singh alias  Budha. In the case, Punjab Police has arrested 23 accused and recovered of 36 weapons from them during raids in Ferozepur range and adjoining states of Haryana and Rajasthan. Four shops of gun dealers have also been sealed in the process.

The Punjab Police got Budha deported from Armenia and arrested him from New Delhi Airport during November, 2019. He made several revelations, which led the state police to solve numerous untraced heinous crimes in Punjab, besides nabbing many criminals as a follow-up.

Following a disclosure by Budha, the Punjab Police, in joint operation with Uttar Pradesh police, also arrested Ashish, a resident of Meerut (UP) on 30 January. Ashish was the main supplier of illegal automatic weapons which were used by the criminals to commit murders, extortions, kidnappings for ransom and other crimes.

Ashish was introduced to Budha by Dharminder alias Gugni, who is one of the main accused in the cases of target killings of Brig. Gagneja, a RSS office bearer and other Hindu religious leaders in Punjab. Ashish was also wanted in the targeted killings cases, being investigated by the NIA, for supply of weapons used in these crimes.

Further, the interrogation of Budha also revealed that Kapil Dev, a proprietor of Kapil arms company in Jalalabad, was also supplying illegal arms and ammunition to criminals in Punjab.

As many as 14 illegal weapons have been recovered on the revelations made by Kapil from different persons.

Amar Setia, proprietor of Setia Gun House, was earlier involved in the preparation of fake arms licenses case investigated by CBI and had been sentenced to three years imprisonment and his license had been cancelled.