ED raids 11 locations in J&K in fake gun licences' scam
Darpan News Desk IANS, 25 Mar, 2022 10:42 AM
Jammu, March 25 (IANS) Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials carried out raids at 11 places in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in connection with the fake gun licences scam in which Rs 2.78 lakh were issued to non-entitled persons.
The ED carried out raids till Thursday evening.
ED sources said teams from Chandigarh, J&K and Delhi started simultaneous raids at 11 locations involving a serving IAS officer and several Jammu and Kashmir Administrative Service (JKAS) officers, who served as Deputy Commissioners (DCs) and Additional Deputy Commissioners (ADCs) of various districts between 2013 and 2016.
Searches were conducted at residences of serving and retired officers or officials, including Rajeev Ranjan, IAS, former Kupwara DC; Itrat Hussain, JKAS, former Kupwara DC; Ravinder Kumar Bhatt, JKAS, former Kupwara ADC, since dismissed from government service, Tariq Ather and Gajan Singh, former judicial clerks at the arms section in DC's office in Kupwara district.
Residences of six arms dealers were also raided from where incriminating documents were recovered which reveal that more senior bureaucrats of J&K are involved in the gun licences scam.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is already investigating the case and ED has registered a separate case in this scam to investigate the money laundering and other financial aspects of the scam.
A nine-member committee of the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM), the consortium of protesting farmers' bodies, will be meeting on Saturday, and it is likely to put forth four main demands. The meeting will also decide whether the SKM will go ahead with the originally announced 'March Towards Delhi' programme on November 26.
Congress legislator and Punjab unit party president Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday said the minimum support price (MSP) is the bigger issue than farm laws as it is the lifeline of farmers.
Extending his greetings to the people on Prakash Purb of Guru Nanak Dev, the Chief Minister said it was really a matter of great honour to inaugurate this prestigious project which happens to coincide with Gurpurab.
Three employees of Air India, accused of having a role in the smuggling of gold, have been arrested, officials said on Friday. They have been accused of having a hand in a recent incident wherein 1.5 kg gold -- stored beneath an aircraft's seat -- was seized.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement on Friday to repeal the three farm laws has brought cheers to the agitating farmers' organisations.However, Anil Ghanwat, a farm leader from Maharashtra who was one of the three members of the Supreme Court appointed committee on farm laws earlier this year, has termed the decision as "unfortunate".
Coinciding with the auspicious occasion of Guru Nanak Jayanti, Modi also announced that the constitutional process to repeal the laws would be taken up in the winter session of Parliament that begins on November 29 and appealed to the agitating farmers to withdraw their agitation and go back to their homes.
