Garhwal Post Bureau
Rudrapur, 12 Jun: The Uttarakhand Special Task Force (STF) has exposed a racket involving forged arms licences and illegal weapons and has arrested two accused from Rudrapur. Three firearms, eight cartridges and two fake arms licences have also been recovered from their possession. The arrests came during investigation of a case registered in Kashipur, Udham Singh Nagar, where seven accused have already been sent to jail. The STF has claimed that acting under the vision of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for a crime‑free Uttarakhand and the directions of DGP Deepam Seth, it has intensified its campaign against fake licences and illegal arms.
According to STF, a large‑scale verification of arms licences transferred from other states is underway, during which several suspicious licences surfaced, leading to registration of an FIR at Kashipur police station on 4 June. On the night of 10 June, the STF and Udham Singh Nagar police jointly recovered four illegal weapons and 237 cartridges from a Swift car in Kashipur. Investigation has linked the recovery to Kashipur residents Saurabh Agrawal, Gaurav Agrawal and Deepti Agrawal. Saurabh, identified as the main accused, had absconded, prompting the STF to launch a search.
On 11 June late night, STF received a piece of confidential information about two persons carrying illegal weapons in Rudrapur. Acting swiftly, the team arrested absconding accused Saurabh Agrawal and his driver Amit Pal near Rudrapur Roadways Bus Station. A 12‑bore pump action gun, a 30‑bore semi‑automatic pistol, a 32‑bore automatic pistol, eight cartridges and two forged licences were recovered from their possession. Interrogation revealed that Amit Pal had concealed the Swift car recovered earlier in a parking lot to destroy evidence and mislead investigation. STF also seized the car keys from him.
The officials stated that interrogation has revealed names of other people and that further action is being initiated. SSP STF, Ajai Singh also confirmed that three cases have so far been registered in different districts of the state in connection with fake arms licences, with seven accused already jailed. The investigation has led to recovery of 12 illegal weapons, 315 cartridges and several forged licences so far. He emphasised that fake arms licences pose a serious threat to national security, public peace and law and order, and Uttarakhand Police is pursuing a zero‑tolerance policy against such crimes. It was also stressed that the verification of thousands of licences transferred from other states is presently underway, and that the STF has appealed to the citizens to immediately inform police about any fake or suspicious licence, assuring complete confidentiality of informants.
