Biggest gun license scam: 2 lakh fake licenses distributed in J&K between 2012 and 2016; Between 2018 and 2020, 81% of the country’s licenses were issued here

During the raid, the CBI took possession of the house of IAS officers.

By conducting a search operation in Jammu and Kashmir, the CBI raided 40 locations simultaneously on Saturday. The investigating agency has also taken 2 senior IAS officers under its scanner. It stars Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and Neeraj Kumar. Both are accused of being involved in the issue of 2 lakh fake gun licenses.

According to government data, Jammu and Kashmir is at the top in the country in terms of issuing gun licenses. The highest number of arms licenses were issued here from 2018 to 2020. In these two years 22,805 licenses were issued across the country, out of which 18,000 were issued in J&K alone. That is, 81% of the country’s licenses were distributed here. It is being told that this is now the biggest gun racket ever in the history of India.

Collectors and magistrates of 22 districts included
The CBI search operation was carried out within 4 years in the case of issuing a large number of fake licenses. There are allegations of issuance of lakhs of fake arms licenses in 22 districts of Jammu and Kashmir in connivance of Collector and Magistrate. Money transactions have also been done in lieu of issuance of licences.

CBI will interrogate IAS Shahid Choudhary
A senior CBI officer said that necessary documents have been found in the raid. Through these, the agency will be helped in carrying forward the investigation. IAS Shahid Chaudhary will be summoned to the CBI office in Srinagar by issuing summons. Choudhary is a 2009 batch IAS officer and is currently posted as Administrative Secretary, Department of Tribal Affairs, Jammu and Kashmir. He is also the CEO of Mission Youth.

Prior to this, Chaudhary was the District Development Commissioner, Srinagar. Chaudhary has also been the Deputy Commissioner of Kathua, Rajouri, Udhampur and Reasi districts. It is alleged that while holding all these posts, Chaudhary issued thousands of gun licenses to people of other states in fake names.

20 gun house also raided
Apart from Srinagar, the CBI has also conducted raids in Anantnag, Baramulla, Jammu, Udhampur, Rajouri and Delhi. During this, the old and present houses of many senior officers were also searched. CBI spokesperson said that 20 gun houses have also been raided. Now 8 former deputy commissioners are being questioned in this case.

Raids in this case were also killed earlier
The CBI had arrested 2 IAS officers Rajiv Ranjan and Itrat Hussain Rafiqui in 2020. Both had issued many fake gun licenses while being deputy commissioners in Kupwara district. Earlier, in December 2019, the CBI had raided a dozen places in Srinagar, Jammu, Gurugram and Noida. The houses of district collectors and magistrates of Kupwara, Baramulla, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Shopian, Rajouri, Doda and Pulwama were also searched during this period. Several officials in Kashmir have long been accused of accepting bribes in exchange for issuing gun licences.

Governor Vohra handed over the case to CBI
The Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) of the Rajasthan government had uncovered one such gun racket in 2017. At that time 50 people were arrested. At that time the Governor of Jammu and Kashmir NN Vohra handed over the case to the CBI. In February 2020, the CBI had arrested an accused. He was accused of doing big financial transactions with many people. The names of many government officials also appeared in the list.