Fake gun licences: CBI raids properties of senior IAS officer, other locations

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday (July 24) raided several locations in Jammu and Kashmir in connection with sale of illegal gun licences.

Precisely, 22 locations were searched, which included the house of senior IAS officer Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, who is Secretary (Tribal Affairs) in the J&K administration. Eight former deputy commissioners too are under the scanner.

It is believed to be the biggest gun licence racket in India with over two lakh licenses issued illegally from Jammu and Kashmir since 2012.

The Rajasthan ATS first unearthed the scandal in 2017 with the arrest of 50 people for allegedly issuing illegal arms licences in the name of Army personnel.

During investigation it was found that between 2012 and 2016, deputy commissioners of various J&K districts had allegedly issued bulk arms licences against monetary gains. This is CBI’s second raid in the matter since 2019 when the central agency had raided several properties of district collectors of Kupwara, Baramulla, Udhampur, Kishtwar, Shopian, Rajouri, Doda and Pulwama.

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On Saturday (July 24), the CBI raided the properties of Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, who was earlier the Deputy Commissioner of Kathua, Reasi, Rajouriand Udhampur districts. He had then allegedly misused his authority to issue thousands of gun licences under fake names.

Last year, the CBI had arrested two more IAS officers, Rajiv Ranjan and Itrat Hussain Rafiqui on same charges.