Lucknow/Ghazipur, The Uttar Pradesh Police on Tuesday said five FIRs have been registered in Ghazipur after a verification drive into arms licences and weapons linked to deceased gangster-politician Mukhtar Ansari, his family members, gang associates and others uncovered alleged large-scale irregularities.
Event Context
One of the FIRs has been lodged against Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari, taking the total number of cases registered against him in connection with the alleged arms licence irregularities to three.
Team Analysis
The police also found one instance in which an arms licence was allegedly obtained using a forged residential address after concealing the applicant’s actual address.
Based on the findings, five FIRs have been registered at Kotwali and Mohammadabad police stations in Ghazipur under various provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Arms Act.
The cases also name Mukhtar Ansari’s wife Afsha Ansari, who is absconding, besides several retired and serving government officials, including former arms clerks, revenue officials and police personnel, for their alleged roles in issuance and verification of licences.
The police headquarters said allegations include disappearance of original licence records, failure to produce documents during verification, issuance of licences on forged addresses, criminal conspiracy and facilitating illegal verification of applications.
A Special Investigation Team headed by the Ghazipur additional superintendent of police has been constituted to investigate the five FIRs. The SIT has been directed to examine the role of all present and former officials connected with the arms section and initiate stringent legal action against those found guilty.
The police said Mukhtar Ansari, who is now deceased, his gang members and associates were already facing several criminal cases, including murder, attempt to murder and extortion, in Ghazipur and other districts.
Match Outlook
The statement said the physical verification of arms licences and weapons linked to Ansari’s family members, gang associates and others is continuing and further legal action will be taken if additional irregularities come to light.
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According to a statement issued by the Director General of Police headquarters, the action follows a state-level probe ordered based on intelligence gathered by the UP Special Task Force into arms licences issued to Ansari’s family, members of the IS-191 gang and their associates, as well as weapons purchased against those licences.
“The verification exercise, carried out under the supervision of the Deputy Inspector General of Police of Varanasi Range covered three categories five members of Ansari’s family, 11 members and associates of the IS-191 gang, and 27 other persons who had allegedly obtained arms licences through forged records. Police physically verified more than 80 weapons linked to 43 licence holders,” the statement said.
“During the probe, investigators found that original arms licence files and records relating to the purchase and sale of weapons were allegedly missing from the Ghazipur District Magistrate’s office. The investigation also revealed alleged collusion between some licence holders and officials posted in the arms section, resulting in disappearance of official records to conceal the actual status and alleged misuse of the weapons,” the statement said.
According to Ghazipur Superintendent of Police Iraj Raja, the latest FIR against Afzal Ansari was registered at the Kotwali police station in connection with the alleged purchase, sale and deposit of a rifle after obtaining its licence from Arunachal Pradesh’s Along district, alleged misuse of the weapon and the disappearance of the original records in conspiracy with an arms clerk, preventing its physical verification.
The FIR also names former arms clerks Gauri Shankar Lal and Sugriv Tiwari.
The police said the case has been registered under sections 409 , 120B and 419 of the IPC, along with Sections 21, 25 and 30 of the Arms Act.
According to the DGP headquarters statement, the cases name Ansari’s son and Ghazipur MP Afzal Ansari in connection with the alleged disappearance of records relating to multiple arms licences and weapons purchased against them.
