With Uttar Pradesh Panchayat elections including Aligarh in the upcoming months , the demand for illegal weapons has also soared to influence voters and intimidate rivals and to score a victory at any cost.
In the elections for Pradhan, violence, power and money are the backbone of most of the candidates which often turns the election into the battlefields. This resulted in rivalry affects generations of family’s candidate. On the other hand, these elections are an evergreen market of illegal firearms and liquor which has received fresh input during this election in Aligarh. These weapons are being sold at elevated prices to the criminals in Aligarh division.
Aligarh, Etah, Mainpuri and Bulandshaher are the biggest market of illegal arms in western U.P with Aligarh as the main manufacturing hub of these illegal firearms because it is an industrial epicenter of lock and hardware industries due to which cheap labor, technique and materials are readily and easily available. Most of the country made arms also manufactured by blacksmith here in Aligarh. These weapons are being used by villagers and farmers to protect them from criminals and wild animals but during elections, these arms are used to intimidate voters and maintain their supremacy.
Another reason for this illegal business is that during elections, the district authorities have asked licensed holders to surrender their arms to the police which in turn creates fear among the people to their lives hence they eventually purchased illegal arms even at an elevated cost to save their lives.
According to the sources, during panchayat elections, Aligarh based illegal arms manufacturers received an order of thousands of small arms including revolver, kattas, pistol and guns by the brokers of the political arm mafia.
Because of this huge demand during Panchayat elections, the cost of such items increased by 150 to 200%. Sources said that katta which is usually available at Rs 4000 now costs upto Rs 8000, five round revolvers available for Rs 8000 now cost Rs 14000 and country-made pistol available for Rs 8000 now sell at a price of Rs 13000.
Middleman play an important role in this market as the manufacturer cannot approach directly to the customer or vice versa to avoid scandals. Sources further added that currently, around ten mafias are active in this business who are busy in contacting the prospective candidates of Pradhan and other posts for the supply of weapons.