An interstate arms racket has been busted by a joint team of Bihar and Madhya Pradesh police. Junked AK 47 rifles from Jabalpur Ordnance factory were supplied to Maoists by an ordnance factory employee. Republic TV has now accessed the confessional statement of the kingpin.

The racket was busted on August 29 after a member of the gang Imran was arrested. 3 AK--47 rifles and few cartridges were recovered from his possession. Also, based on information ascertained from him during interrogation, ordnance factory employee Purushottam Lal Rajak was arrested.

PURSHOTTAM LAL RAJAK'S CONFESSION

On being grilled, Rajak, a retired armourer, confessed to having received discarded AK-47 rifles from Central Ordnance depot in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh from one Suresh Thakur, who is a serving officer in the ordnance depot. He also revealed that Thakur used to carry the rifles in his personal car before handing them over to Purshottam. Thakur has now been arrested by the Madhya Pradesh Anti-Terror Squad (ATS).

In his confession, Purshottam also admitted to having reassembled the parts of the AK-47 rifles, transporting them via trains and selling them to arms agents Imran and Shamsher in Bihar. These arms agents then would supply the arms to the Maoists.

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The arms were supplied to various districts in Bihar, including Bhagalpur, Patna, Munger and Jamalpur. Rajak also revealed that in a time span of 6 years, from 2012-2018, he has supplied 70-80 rifles and that he was paid Rs 5 lakh for 1 AK-47 rifle. In his confessional statement, he also said that he paid Rs 1.25 lakh to the supplier of the junk arms and that he amassed an impressive property with his 6 year arms trade. Now, the case has been registered under PMLA

Reacting to the busting of the racket, AK Singhal, Bihar ADG said, “such types of arms have been recovered in Bihar in past 6 years also. 6 AK-47 rifles and spare parts were recovered from Mirzapur dargah village of Munger district, adding, “our intelligence wing and our police are working in tandem with many other states regarding the busting of this entire racket.”