M A I N   N E W S

CBI interrogates Karnal DC
Arms licence scandal

New Delhi, November 7
The CBI today grilled the Deputy Commissioner of Karnal in Haryana, a key figure in the inter-state arms licence racket, to establish the real magnitude of the illegal operation.

The racket was unearthed by the agency last week with the arrest of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) at Jind (Haryana), Mr A.N. Ichhapujani.

The two Haryana Government officials, with the assistance of the Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Palwal, Mr R.C. Pawaria, had been running the racket for several years and had allegedly sanctioned licences to many anti-national elements in the North-East.

Agency officials said the Haryana Government official Devinder Singh was grilled for about two hours. He was asked to reply to various queries related to the running of the racket both during his tenure in Gurgaon and then in Karnal.

Officials said the investigation provided evidence about the issuance of at least 2000 licences by the official during his posting at Gurgaon, from where the racket was being run, till 1998. They also suspect that there could be an additional 3000 licences which the official could have approved.

Investigation by the agency found that the racket was being run at the behest of a Delhi-based Sharma gun dealers who were acquiring the arms licences — some in real names and some in fake names — and then supplying them at a high cost to various people all over the country, including insurgents in the North-East and Naxalites in Andhra Pradesh.

The officials said 25 bullets of a 12 bore pistol was recovered at the Deputy Commissioner’s residence during the search.

Besides, a huge stock of foreign liquor was seized from the residential premises of the Deputy Commissioner.

During the investigation, searches were conducted in September at 20 places at New Delhi, Jammu, Faridabad, Palwal and Panipat on the premises of the arms dealers.

Meanwhile, a Delhi court today extended till November 10 the police remand of Jind SDM arrested by the CBI in connection with the licence racket. UNI

Delhi Excise chief held

New Delhi, November 7
CBI tonight arrested the Chief Commissioner of Central Excise (Delhi) Someshvar for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10 lakh from an industrialist and began search of his residential premises.

A CBI spokesman said the agency’s intelligence wing had got a specific tip-off about the case.

A Noida-based industrialist, Ashok Chaturvedi, who owns Flex company and one of his employees had also been arrested for allegedly offering the bribe.

Giving details, the spokesman said that a bribe amount of Rs 5 lakh was delivered in the office of Chief Commissioner by the employee of the industrialist, which was recovered by the CBI in front of an independent witness.

Another amount of Rs 5 lakh, which was to be delivered at the residence of the Chief Commissioner, was recovered from the vehicle of the industrialist which was parked in the complex of Sales Tax Office.

Meanwhile, the CBI began searching the residential premises of the Chief Commissioner as also the industrialist, the spokesman added. PTI