Thane, Apr 1 (PTI) A 39-year-old businessman and his employee have been arrested for alleged possession of country-made pistols and cartridges in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said on Monday.

Based on a tip-off, the police raided a premises in Bhiwandi town on March 30, and recovered the firearms, an official said.

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The accused, Firoz Alam Shafiullah Chodhary, a businessman, had allegedly acquired firearms from a former employee to plant them in the shops of his business rivals, assistant commissioner of police (Crime) Madan Ballal said.

The police recovered a country-made pistol and 10 cartridges from Chodhary, and another weapon and six cartridges from his employee Shakir Abdul Vahab Chodhary (38), he said.

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Two more pistols and 43 cartridges were seized from a shop during the investigation, the official said.

According to the police, the accused businessman had procured six pistols and 71 cartridges, of which he got rid of two weapons and 12 cartridges by throwing them into Versova Creek.

He allegedly intended to plant the remaining firearms in shops belonging to his rivals, they said.

The police have seized four pistols and 59 cartridges from the duo and efforts are on to fish out the other two weapons from the creek.

A case has been registered against the accused under the Arms Act and Maharashtra Police Act at the Nayanagar police station, the official said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)