The CBI has registered two cases to probe illegal issuance of over 40,000 gun licences issued during the last one decade by various district administrations of Jammu & Kashmir. The CBI move comes after reference from the State Government.
The two cases were registered on Tuesday against unknown officials of various districts of the State under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and Arms Act. A former District Collector of Kupwara has been named as an accused in one of the cases, a CBI official said.
Following reports of illegal issuance of gun licences to people without due process, the State Government had earlier revoked a number of such licences issued between January 1, 2017 and February 23 this year. The State Government also put a blanket ban on issuance of any licence.
The racket came to light after the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in 2017 unearthed one of the biggest gun licences scam operating from Jammu & Kashmir. Key districts involved in the racket included Kupwara Ganderbal, Leh, Rajouri, Ramban, Reasi and Udhampur.
Earlier, the Union Home Ministry had initiated a probe to look into allegations of irregularities including bribery in issuance of gun licences across Jammu & Kashmir. The Home Ministry had also directed the State Government to look into the issue following which a ban was imposed on issuance of fresh licences.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had forwarded a complaint from Youth Voice of Jammu & Kashmir to the Jammu & Kashmir Division of the Ministry to probe the allegations.
The Youth Voice of Jammu & Kashmir, a voluntary organisation, had in a letter to the Union Home Minister in March underscored the need to urgently enquire into the illegal practice prevalent in every district headquarters of the State of issuing gun licences in lieu of bribe.
The outfit had also flagged concerns that the alleged corruption is so rampant that the touts even collect huge sums of money even from Army and paramilitary personnel who approach the district administration for obtaining personal arms licences.
According to the complaint, the touts charge as much as Rs 30,000 for every such gun licence issued to an individual. The touts have access to the staffers of the office of the District Collectors, the outfit had alleged.
The outfit further warned that a serious threat has emerged not only to the State but also to the nation as a whole due to issuance of arms licences in lieu of bribes.
In view of the seriousness of the allegations, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had marked the complaint from Youth Voice of Jammu & Kashmir to the Kashmir Division and an enquiry was conducted to ascertain the allegations.
Former Director General of Police K Rajendra and the then DG of CRPF K Durga Prasad had told Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the closed-door DGPs/IGPs Conference (held from November 25-27, 2016), that there was “large-scale corruption in the State (Jammu & Kashmir) Government particularly in implementation of developmental projects” and “bad governance and corruption in the Valley” respectively.