Lucknow: In a crackdown on irregularities in licensed arms sales, UP Police uncovered large-scale violations during a month-long special verification drive across Varanasi range.Supervised by DIG (Varanasi range) Vaibhav Krishna on Jan 20, the drive covered Jaunpur, Ghazipur and Chandauli and focused on verifying cartridges sold by licensed gun shops over past two years. Each of 17 joint teams comprising police and administrative officials—seven in Jaunpur, six in Ghazipur and four in Chandauli—comprised COs, SDMs, SHO, and SIs who physically verified records of licensed arms dealers and cross-checked them with actual buyers. At police stations, identities and addresses of individuals listed as purchasers of cartridges were verified.At Rajput gun house in Kerakat, Jaunpur, 680 cartridges were sold to three, but on verification only 265 cartridges were found actually purchased. Shop’s licence was not renewed since 2021. FIR was registered under provisions of Arms Act and BNS. Jayhind gun house, Jaunpur recorded sale of 280 cartridges to unidentified person, leading to FIR. Licence of Pandey gun house in Shahganj was not renewed since 2011, prompting cancellation proceedings and seizure of 11 firearms.It came to light that 41 licence holders had used weapons for celebratory firing or to scare animals, while 16 conducted unauthorised test firing and face suspension or cancellation of licences. In Chandauli, excessive unauthorised purchase of cartridges by licence holders was noticed.. At Chandauli gun house, 1,061 cartridges were sold to nine whose identities were not verified. FIRs were registered for licences not renewed since 2021. A licence holder from Bihar purchased 399 cartridges in a year, leading to legal action and 63 licence holders were guilty of celebratory firing or misuse of ammunition, while 25 others conducted unauthorised weapon testing.In Ghazipur, Singh manufacturer’s licence was not renewed since 2020 and its seven firearms were seized and deposited at police station. Moreover, 20 licence holders misused firearms. “Irregularities involving 2,490 cartridges came to light in Varanasi range and seven FIRs were registered, while we have initiated action against 170 arms licence holders for celebratory firing and illegal testing of weapons,” said Vaibhav Krishna.
