Peon brought papers, clerk issued fake gun licenses:Arms permission sold for ₹3 lakh in Bhind; 14 held from MP, UP

In Bhind, firearm licenses were being fraudulently issued for 3 lakh rupees. In this case, 14 people, including two employees of the Arms branch, were sent to jail recently. The peon would bring fake documents from brokers, and the clerk would get the licenses made by obtaining signatures from the ADM. The contract for buying weapons and obtaining licenses had been ongoing for 10 years. Police suspect that around 350 firearm licenses in the district were fraudulently obtained. If proven true in the investigation, this will be Madhya Pradesh’s biggest arms license scam. Dainik Bhaskar understood the matter and learned about the roles of brokers, departmental officers, and employees. Read the full report How fake arms license racket exposed On April 23, the police uncovered an organised fake arms license racket in the district. It was reported that some time ago, under the direction of DIG and Bhind SP Dr. Asit Yadav, the cyber team conducted an investigation using ‘Netgrid’. When some licenses were checked on the portal, no record of them was found. This made it clear that the entire fraud was being operated from the Arms branch of the Collectorate. This gang used to tamper with documents like PAN cards, Aadhaar cards, and photos to create fake online licenses. These licenses had QR codes, and the name of the District Officer Bhind was inscribed on them, so that no one would suspect anything. As the investigation progressed, the names of 14 accused from MP, UP, and Maharashtra came up, including Arms Branch clerk Madhubala Maurya and Ramsevak Korku. They were arrested and sent to jail. 10 pistols and a .315 bore rifle were seized from the accused. Role of each character 14 people were arrested Rohit Chandole (Nashik), Praveen Bhavre (Nashik), Satish Chandra (Nashik), Satish Tripathi (Tola Rawatpura, Bhind), Pushpendra Rajawat (Bhind), Abrar Khan (Bhind), Ramsevak Korku (Servant, Collectorate Office), Madhubala Maurya (Arms Branch, Bhind), Ajit Kushwah (Bhind), Sumer Yadav (Umri), Radhacharan Nayak (Sarawan, District Jalaun, UP), Rahul Patil (Nashik), Pranshu Sharma (Lahar) and Sunil Sharma (Lahar). This is how the fraud happened in 10 years Fake license scam began in 2016 The fake arms licence case began in 2016-17. Initially, irregularities were found in licence renewals and challans linked to deceased licence holders. Then Collector Ilaiyaraja T ordered verification of outside arms licences in Bhind. He directed Army personnel who obtained licences in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, and Jammu during service to secure NOCs from the respective states and headquarters before keeping them in Bhind, with strict compliance of rules. This is where clerks and staff allegedly got the idea of creating fake licences. Brokers became active and started arranging fake receipts and forged NOCs from other states. At the time, rates were Rs 2-2.5 lakh for a gun licence and Rs 3-4 lakh for a pistol licence. During that period, Mahendra Singh Bhadauria headed the Arms branch, while Satish Tripathi operated as a key broker. The racket continued till 2022. Bhadauria later fell ill, but Tripathi allegedly continued handling the work. After Bhadauria’s death, Sanjeev Jain, Radhamohan Shriwas, and Chetan Singh served as clerks in the Arms branch. Investigators found fake licences were issued during their tenure as well. In 2024, Madhubala Maurya was posted as clerk. Nothing happened for three-four months, but she later joined the fake licence racket. After the allegations were proven, she was arrested and sent to jail. Approval has to be taken from police headquarters According to the department, transfer of an arms licence is a statutory process. If a person obtained a licence in Punjab, Haryana or Jammu but resides in Bhind, he must first apply to the arms branch to register the firearm in his home district. The Bhind arms branch then writes to the Collector of the concerned district, who issues an NOC. After that, a second letter is sent to the Superintendent of Police office in Bhind. Once police clearance is received, the arms branch in-charge verifies the statutory documents and the licence registration process begins. The procedure is then completed online. For pistol or revolver licences, approval from Bhopal Police Headquarters is mandatory before registration in the home district. How the fraud was committed Initially, brokers would prepare arms license receipts from other districts and submit applications. After this, they would get a fake NOC letter made. After police verification in the home district, they would show the license as valid, whereas they did not have any license previously. After this, the license would be registered upon the in-charge’s approval. But for the last three to four years, brokers started taking contracts for both licenses and weapons. Incorrect license numbers entered to avoid verification To avoid police verification, the gang adopted a new method. They claimed the license was 8-10 years old. The license number was pre-recorded in the old record register. Then an application was prepared in the name of the applicant, showing an 8-10-year-old license. The license number was also provided in the application. A government challan was then generated for it. The application was presented before the ADM. Then, based on the old license, approval for a duplicate license was obtained. In this process, even criminals started receiving fake licenses. These licenses were issued not only in Bhind but also in Maharashtra and Delhi. Licenses also made for criminals The game of fake licenses initially ran on fake receipts and NOCs. During the time of Mahendra Bhadauria and broker Satish Tripathi, police records were also checked. They feared that if a license was issued to a criminal, they would be caught. Therefore, they remained vigilant. But after 2023, Satish Tripathi’s influence weakened. Other brokers became active. They started taking full contracts for fake licenses. Deals were made to provide both guns and pistols. They would procure weapons from Lakhna, UP. They would issue licenses claiming them to be valid. Currently, the amount charged for obtaining a license ranged from 4 to 6 lakh rupees.