Sheikh Shahjahan, the suspended Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader from Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district, bought three firearms from an authorized gun dealer in Kolkata between 2016 and 2019 against licences issued in Nagaland, police officers said after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) recovered a cache of arms and ammunition from the home of another TMC leader’s relative in Sandeshkhali on Friday.
After procuring the licences from Nagaland, Shahjahan bought a .32 bore Mauser pistol made in Germany, a .32 bore Smith and Wesson revolver made in the US and a 30.06 bore rifle made by the Indian Ordnance Factory in Ishapore in West Bengal, according to police records.
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“Kolkata Police verified the unique identification number of these Nagaland licences from the Union home ministry’s portal (National Database of Arms Licences, or NDAL) and permitted Shahjahan to purchase the weapons from the Kolkata dealer. Permission was also given to purchase ammunition for these weapons,” a police officer with access to the records said on condition of anonymity.
“Some of the firearms seized by the CBI belong to the prohibited bore category under the Indian Arms Act and civilians cannot own these. One of these is a 9 mm pistol made in the Czech Republic. The CBI released a photo of the seized arms and ammunition. However, all three weapons Shahjahan purchased belong to the non-prohibited bore category. It is not clear whether the CBI found those. It, however, seized a receipt issued by the same gun shop for some ammunition Shahjahan bought,” the officer added.
Abu Taleb Sheikh, owner of the house where the CBI made the seizures, could not be traced.
The Indian Arms Act does not allow a citizen with permanent address in one state to apply for a gun licence in another state without special permission from the home state or the Union home ministry, a second police officer said, declining to be named.
“In similar irregularities that we investigated in the past, it was found that numerous people applying for gun licences in Nagaland showed a local address in that state as their permanent address. In fact, it came to our notice that a specific address in Nagaland was cited as permanent address by multiple applicants from various states,” he said. “This is an interstate racket run by middlemen, gun dealers and government functionaries. The Delhi and Gujarat police no longer allow gun dealers to sell weapons to people having licences from Nagaland.”
“Shahjahan must have procured his licences through this racket,” he added. “Police authorities in Bengal are very strict about issuing gun licences. More than 90 % applications are rejected after scrutiny.”
Friday’s raid was conducted in connection with the January 5 mob attack on a team of Enforcement Directorate officials who went to Shahjahan’s Sandeshkhali residence to question him in an alleged public distribution system scam, according to the CBI.
After staying in hiding for 55 days, Shahjahan was arrested by local police on February 28 and handed over to the CBI following Calcutta high court orders. The federal agency is also probing allegations of land grabbing and sexual assault on local women faced by Shahjahan and two other TMC leaders. All three are in judicial custody.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has made Sandeshkhali and Shahjahan issues in the Lok Sabha elections.
After raiding the home of Abu Taleb Sheikh on Friday, the CBI issued a statement saying that it seized three foreign-made revolvers, an India-made revolver, one Colt (made in the US) police revolver, a foreign-made pistol, a countrymade pistol, 120 rounds of 9 mm ammunition, 50 rounds of .45 ammunition, 50 rounds of .38 ammunition and eight rounds of .32 ammunition.
“Besides, many incriminating documents related to Sheikh Shahjahan have also been recovered,” it said in a statement.
Of the ammunition mentioned in the statement, 9 mm is a prohibited bore and used only by police and armed forces. Also, .38 bore revolvers made by Colt and Smith & Wesson have been the main sidearm of police across India for decades. Being replaced by modern 9 mm pistols, many of these .38 bore revolvers have been looted or stolen by criminals and insurgents from police armouries in disturbed areas of the country.
Addressing a Lok Sabha rally on Saturday, TMC chairperson and chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleged that the recovery was staged by the CBI. The TMC lodged a complaint with Election Commission of India alleging the raid was conducted to tarnish the party’s image during the parliamentary polls.
“Nobody knows where it (the arms and ammunitions) was recovered from. May be they (federal agencies) brought it from their own car and presented as recovered items. There is no evidence to show it was found there (in the house),” Banerjee, who is also the state’s home minister, said in West Burdwan district.
Reacting to the BJP’s demand for a probe by the National Investigation Agency into the recovery of weapons, TMC spokesperson Santanu Sen said: “How many of them demanded NIA probe into loot of police weapons in Manipur or killing of the army personnel at Pulwama in Kashmir?”
