The two cases were registered against unknown officials of various districts of the state under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and Arms Act.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered two cases to probe the illegal issuance of 4. 29 lakh arms licences in the last one decade by various district administrations of Jammu and Kashmir. The CBI move comes after reference from the state government to probe the indiscriminate issuance of firearms licences.
The two cases were registered against unknown officials of various districts of the state under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and Arms Act.
Following reports of illegal issuance of arms licences, the state government had earlier revoked a number of such licences issued between January 1, 2017 to February 23. The State government subsequently put a blanket ban on issuance of any new licence.
The racket came to light after the Rajasthan Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) in 2017 unearthed one of the biggest gun license scams operating from J&K. Key districts involved in the racket included Kupwara, Ganderbal, Leh, Rajouri, Ramban and Udhampur.
Earlier, the Union Home Ministry had launched a probe to look into allegations of irregularities, including bribery, in the issuance of arms licences across J&K. The Home Ministry had also directed the State government to look into the issue following which, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had forwarded a complaint from Youth Voice of Jammu and Kashmir to the J&K division of the Ministry to probe the allegations.
According to the complaint, the touts charge as much as Rs 30,000 for each arms licence issued to an individual. The touts have access to the staff at the office of the District Collectors, the outfit had alleged.
The outfit further warned that a serious threat has emerged not only for the state but also for the nation as a whole due to the issuance of arms licences in lieu of bribes.
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