21 licensed arms sent to laboratory

Nikhil Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, November 15

What could be termed as a major development in the ongoing probe into the mysterious gunshot wound inflicted on a two-year-old daughter of a temple priest at Kidwai Nagar last Friday, the city police have conducted a major search operation in the area to check licensed weapon holders.

Police sources told The Tribune on Thursday that the police had collected 42 licensed weapons, of which 21 weapons (pistols and revolvers) were of .32-bore type. Since the bullet, which hit Bhavguni in the head, was shot from a .32-bore weapon, the police seized all 21 weapons of the same bore.

The sources confirmed that of 21 weapons, six firearms belonged to the kin of a former MLA living in the area.

The sources said the police had formed around 20 teams, comprising 150 policemen, to collect the data of licensed weapon holders in the 500-metre radius of the spot.

“Police teams took six days to compile the data and visit licence holders. During the probe, the police found that 42 persons were having licensed weapons but 21 of them are of .32 bore. We have seized the weapons and these are being sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Chandigarh. The laboratory will check the weapons to find out which arms were recently used. Persons will be interrogated based on the report of the laboratory to solve the mysterious firing that has put the life of 2-year-old girl in danger,” a police official said.

The incident

On the evening of November 9, Bhavguni was in the lap of her mother Meera, wife of temple priest Deepak, on the rooftop. Suddenly, her mother felt a jerk. When she examined her child, she noticed blood oozing out of her head. The girl was rushed to the hospital. The doctors told the police that the girl was out of danger. They said the bullet stuck in her brains couldn’t be taken out as it could put her life in danger. However, she can lead a normal life with the bullet in her brains, said the doctors.