03-20-2007, 02:40 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--> <b>Know where the guns came from</b>?Â
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, March 19: The origin of a sizable portion of the arms and ammunition found by the Central Bureau of Investigation at Khejuri can possibly be traced from the sale registers of the authorised gun shops in Kolkata and the districts and the offices of magistrates.
<b>Shocking as it may sound, senior state intelligence officials suspect that some licensed firearms and ammunition, legally purchased from dealers, were used by CPI-Mâs action squad members before and during the 14 March killings.</b> And it happened despite a drive by police to restrict arms permits in East and West Midnapore after violence in Sabang, Garbeta, Pingla and their surrounding areas seven years ago. A circular was issued at the time for the antecedents of each licence-seeker to be probed there and in Purulia and Bankura. Except in special circumstances, owning inherited weapons was informally discouraged.
<b>The CBI has gathered that .315 bore bolt action rifles manufactured by the Indian Ordnance Factory, Ishapore, were brought into Nandigram by the CPI-Mâs hitmen from elsewhere.</b> Several rifles were found near a brick kiln at Khejuri. Under the Indian Arms Act, up to 50 rounds of ammunition can be purchased annually by a licence-holder. <b>Quite unsurprisingly, the CBI found fresh boxes of ammunition made by the Indian Ordnance Factory in Khirki</b>.
A .315 rifle, powerful enough to kill a bison, is worth about Rs 47,000. Its magazine loads five rounds at a time, the ammunition costing about Rs 50 apiece. Pipeguns and handmade muskets are limited in range and accuracy but the rifles deliver death from a distance of up to 200 metres.
<b>Officials said it was possible to identify the riflesâ owners by checking the serial numbers stamped on the weapons. These would also be found in sale registers</b>. The offices of magistrates and, in Kolkata, that of the deputy commissioner, Arms Act department, record the serial numbers. They also have the licence-holdersâ photographs. <b>âWeâve been told of guns being borrowed for a day or twoâ by political activists.</b> It was a common practice when the Naxalite movement was at its peak,â said a senior Intelligence Branch official. The CBIâs probe is expected to prove that the CPI-Mâs men were were as well-equipped with arms as police when Nandigram was murderously raided. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Statesman News Service
KOLKATA, March 19: The origin of a sizable portion of the arms and ammunition found by the Central Bureau of Investigation at Khejuri can possibly be traced from the sale registers of the authorised gun shops in Kolkata and the districts and the offices of magistrates.
<b>Shocking as it may sound, senior state intelligence officials suspect that some licensed firearms and ammunition, legally purchased from dealers, were used by CPI-Mâs action squad members before and during the 14 March killings.</b> And it happened despite a drive by police to restrict arms permits in East and West Midnapore after violence in Sabang, Garbeta, Pingla and their surrounding areas seven years ago. A circular was issued at the time for the antecedents of each licence-seeker to be probed there and in Purulia and Bankura. Except in special circumstances, owning inherited weapons was informally discouraged.
<b>The CBI has gathered that .315 bore bolt action rifles manufactured by the Indian Ordnance Factory, Ishapore, were brought into Nandigram by the CPI-Mâs hitmen from elsewhere.</b> Several rifles were found near a brick kiln at Khejuri. Under the Indian Arms Act, up to 50 rounds of ammunition can be purchased annually by a licence-holder. <b>Quite unsurprisingly, the CBI found fresh boxes of ammunition made by the Indian Ordnance Factory in Khirki</b>.
A .315 rifle, powerful enough to kill a bison, is worth about Rs 47,000. Its magazine loads five rounds at a time, the ammunition costing about Rs 50 apiece. Pipeguns and handmade muskets are limited in range and accuracy but the rifles deliver death from a distance of up to 200 metres.
<b>Officials said it was possible to identify the riflesâ owners by checking the serial numbers stamped on the weapons. These would also be found in sale registers</b>. The offices of magistrates and, in Kolkata, that of the deputy commissioner, Arms Act department, record the serial numbers. They also have the licence-holdersâ photographs. <b>âWeâve been told of guns being borrowed for a day or twoâ by political activists.</b> It was a common practice when the Naxalite movement was at its peak,â said a senior Intelligence Branch official. The CBIâs probe is expected to prove that the CPI-Mâs men were were as well-equipped with arms as police when Nandigram was murderously raided. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->