Mumbai: Police Busts Illicit Weapons Racket, 3 Arrested Including Supplier From Mirzapur; Recover 7 Pistols, 131 Cartridges

Mumbai: Mumbai police's crime branch unit - 9 busted an illicit weapons racket on Tuesday. Three persons were arrested, including a weapon supplier from Mirzapur district, Uttar Pradesh.

Following a tip off, a team led by senior inspector Daya Nayak kept a watch near the PVR cinema complex at Juhu and detained one Mitailal Chaudhari (58) aka Hari Om, a resident of Mirzapur. Following his search, the police recovered an unlicensed Indian-made pistol and seven live cartridges from him.

Following his interrogation the police recovered five more pistols and 121 live cartridges from a house in Airoli. Two more persons, Dhawal Devarmani (34) and Pushpak Madvi (38), both residents of Navi Mumbai, were arrested and two pistols and 10 live cartridges were recovered from them.

Apparently these weapons were sold to them by Hari Om. Devarmani had four criminal cases against him, including one for possession of illegal arms. Madvi, runs a security agency and had allegedly purchased the illegal pistol from Hari Om.

According to the sources, "Hari Om is well known in the weapon supply world. He buys modern Indian-made pistols from Mirzapur for Rs 50,000 and sells them in rest of India for Rs 1 and 1.25 lakhs."

Daya Nayak said, "We are expecting more recoveries in the days to come." The accused were produced at the Esplanade court and were remanded to police custody till July 8. The case has been registered under Section 3(25) of the Arms Act and Section 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act.