J&K officials under R’sthan ATS lens

Jaipur/Srinagar, July 19

Several senior J&K government officials are under the scanner of the Rajasthan Police’s anti-terror squad (ATS), which is probing the issuance of 4.29 lakh arms licences in the last one decade from various districts of the militancy-hit state, officials said.

A majority of the licences were given to non-residents on the basis of forged documents, they alleged. Taking cognisance of the ATS requests, pending since last year, the J&K Government issued a notification on July 12 asking divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners to submit a detailed report of the arms licences issued last year.

The order instructs the deputy commissioners of Kishtwar, Kupwara and Ganderbal in the Kashmir region, Leh in the Ladakh division and Rajouri, Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur in the Jammu province to furnish all records within a month. The deputy commissioners of all districts have been barred from issuing any further arms licences till further orders, it said.

It was decided during a meeting with Governor NN Vohra to direct all district magistrates to take urgent steps to revoke all individual arms licences issued to various persons other than those to the Army, paramilitary and police personnel, the officials said.

The district magistrates were asked to ensure that all weapons were deposited in neighbouring police stations within 15 days, or by July 27.

According to a senior Rajasthan Police officer, the J&K Government was informed about the racket last year and several letters addressed to then Chief Secretary BB Vyas were sent. “However, no information was shared with us,” he said.

Then Superintendent of Police Vikas Kumar, who is now Deputy Inspector General of the Rajasthan ATS, camped in Srinagar last year and in Jammu this year, but officials in the state refused to share any information, including the postings of previous deputy commissioners, it is learnt.

The J&K Government did not give lists of former special secretaries, deputy secretaries and under secretaries, saying all records were washed away in the 2014 floods.

As the probe into the alleged racket started gathering pace, the brother of a senior J&K IAS officer was arrested by the Rajasthan Police in Gurgaon recently. The police alleged that Rs 40 lakh had been transferred into his account by a gun dealer.

“We have been looking for a person who worked in the J&K home department but cooperation from the state earlier was nil as they refused to comply with our notice on the pretext that the notice has been sent under the Indian Penal Code and the state follows the Ranbir Penal Code,” an ATS official said.

A letter written by an Under Secretary in the J&K home department, a copy of which was sent to the department’s Principal Secretary (Home), asked the Rajasthan Police not to send notices to officials of the state.

A sample survey of licences issued from Kupwara district showed that no files or registers were maintained by the district authorities and many of the arms licences may have been issued to outsiders on the basis of forged documents. — PTI

Operation Jubaida

• According to Rajasthan ATS officials, 1,32,321 of the 1,43,013 licences in the Jammu region’s Doda, Ramban and Udhampur districts were issued in the last decade to those residing outside the state. 

• The figure for the entire state is 4,29,301, of which just 10 per cent were issued to residents in the state. A majority of the licences were given to non-residents on the basis of forged documents, the officials alleged. 

• The officials said they were not aware of the magnitude of the case and its serious ramifications when they began the operation, code-named ‘Jubaida’, last year. 

• Senior officials in the Governor’s office in J&K have said action would be taken against all those guilty of issuing fake licences.