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.
After the Model Code of Conduct came into force in the state for the Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections, enforcement teams have seized valuables worth Rs 23.8 crore in violation of code, besides confiscating unaccounted cash till January 12, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab S. Karuna Raju said on Thursday.
Channi expressed regret while participating in a virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Modi with Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors/Administrators of states and UTs to review the prevailing Covid situation as well as the ongoing vaccination drive.
Unveiling the first set of plans in his Punjab Model with focus on resurrection of Punjab, Sidhu, in the absence of Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and his Cabinet colleagues, told the media here: "Punjab Model is people's model, an effort to give a roadmap to return power to people."
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri on Tuesday said that he "personally" feels that alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in Punjab had cost the BJP heavily.
India on Tuesday recorded 1,68,063 new Covid cases, taking the total tally to 8,21,446. Although the fresh infections were 6.4 per cent less than Monday when the country logged 1,79,723, the weekly positivity rate has climbed to 8.85 per cent and the daily positivity rate has declined to 10.64 per cent. On the other hand, 4,461 Omicron cases were recorded from 28 states.
Delhi reported a 25 per cent surge in Covid-19 cases after recording 19,166 fresh cases. With this, the infection tally has climbed to 15,68,896. Meanwhile, the city has recorded 17 Covid deaths on the second consecutive day, pushing the death toll to 25,177.
