Srinagar: Several teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday raided 40 places, including residential premises of two IAS officers in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi. This action was taken in connection with the investigation of the alleged illegal arms license case.
A CBI spokesperson in Delhi revealed that the agency is conducting searches at the official and residential premises of then public servants (including IAS officers) at around 40 places including Jammu, Srinagar, Udhampur, Rajouri, Anantnag, Baramulla, Delhi.
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He said that about 20 gun houses are also being searched.
The search operation is said to start early Saturday.
A source in the agency revealed that the CBI searched the premises of former Srinagar Deputy Commissioner Shahid Iqbal Choudhary and another IAS officer Neeraj Kumar.
During the period 2012 to 2016, district magistrates in various districts of Jammu and Kashmir, including Kupwara, had fraudulently and illegally issued bulk arms licenses in exchange for money. More than two lakh gun licenses are suspected to have been illegally issued from Jammu and Kashmir, considered India’s biggest gun license racket.
The CBI had registered the case in 2018 with the concurrence of the then Jammu and Kashmir government and with further notification from the central government after investigation by the state police.
The central agency is probing at least eight former deputy commissioners.
(with agency input)
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