The recent arrest of the kingpin of a Talcher-based gun manufacturing unit Tukuna Swain alias Bhujali Singh, a resident of Paikasahi in Talcher, has revealed a nexus between him with the gangsters of Kendrapada.
He used to supply several arms and ammunitions to the historysheeters for committing the crime, stated Angul SP Narasingh Bhol to this correspondent. Notably, the Angul police on August 10 last had busted an illegal gun manufacturing unit and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunitions, including 31 sophisticated pistols and 500 live ammunitions, after conducting a raid at a rented house of Swain at Champasahi. The police had seized raw materials, including gun powder and arrested five persons, including two juveniles. According to SP Bhol, during an inquiry, the police came to know that the gun manufacturing unit was illegally operating at Champasahi over last couple of months with the help of some Bihari youths, who were also arrested. But the gun running business was being operated by Swain over last many years as he earlier used to supply arms to the Tito and Hyder gangs. He had a good rapport with the gun runners of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Even, Swain was a close associate of supari killer Dipu alias Biplab Behera of Kendrapara, informed the SP.
Though the exact number of guns that Swain had supplied to the gangsters of Kendrapara is yet to be established, but as per a preliminary inquiry it was not less than 20. It may be noted here that the Tirtol police in February, 2011, had arrested five persons, including gun runner Tukuna and seized five sophisticated mousers, one rifle and 165 rounds of live cartridges from their possession while they were preparing for a dacoity at Rahama Bazar.