India News | Kingpin of Gang Caught with over 2,200 Cartridges in Delhi Arrested

New Delhi, Aug 20 (PTI) The 27-year-old kingpin of a gang that was caught with over 2,200 live cartridges here recently was arrested, police said on Saturday.

Accused Shubham Singh, a resident of Jaunpur district in Uttar Pradesh, was allegedly supplying arms and ammunition to sand mafia in Bihar, they said.

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Earlier this month, six people of this gang -- Ajmal, Rashid, Saddam, Parikshit Negi, Nasir and another person-- were arrested and the live cartridges recovered from them near Anand Vihar Inter State Bus Terminal here.

During investigation, they had given leads about Singh to the police, who traced him to Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, but he kept changing his location. He was later nabbed and brought to Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police (east) Priyanka Kashyap said.

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Singh told the police that he came in contact with an arms dealer and started supplying country-made weapons. Later, he was introduced to the sand mafia operating in Bhojpur of Arrah district in Bihar.

The government issues licences for mining sand from river Son, but the mafia often mines above the allotted limits. This would lead to confrontation with the police and this is why they procured cartridges, police said.

Singh also came in contact with one Anil Balyan, a resident of Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, who was already involved in trafficking of live cartridges.

Balyan introduced him to Negi, who was among the five people arrested earlier, and the nexus of trafficking of cartridges from Uttarakhand's Dehradun to the sand mafia in Bhojpur started, the DCP said.

Rashid and Ajmal used to work as carriers to take the ammunition from Dehradun via Delhi and hand it over Shubham or his associates, police said.

Balyan, on the other hand, was arrested in a case of attempt to murder and is currently lodged in Meerut jail.

The interrogation revealed that the gang supplied thousands of live cartridges at least four to five times. It was also revealed that besides the live cartridges, the accused had also supplied six rifles to the sand mafia, police added.

(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)