Illegal Gun Trade: Cops Identify Kingpins' Assets Worth Crores; Probe Reveals Gang Was Operating In Four States

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Crime Branch has identified and marked assets worth crores belonging to the masterminds behind two illegal arms factories in Tikamgarh, part of an inter-state racket. The police are now taking recourse to legal proceedings to seize the properties.

Crime Branch officials said accused Surendra Vishwakarma and Narendra Parmar had amassed huge illegal wealth through decades of illegal arms trade. Investigations revealed that Surendra and his family owned 3 to 4 acres of land, eight shops, a tractor, a loading vehicle and five lathe machines.

Narendra Parmar’s assets are even more: 25 acres of farmland and two farmhouses.

Additional DCP (crime) Shailendra Singh Chauhan said the properties acquired through the illegal business would be confiscated and brought under government control.

Guns Of Ramgarh: Crime Branch Probing Properties Of 3rd Generation Gun-Makers In MP

Further police investigation has revealed that the illegal firearms were supplied to several districts of Uttar Pradesh, including Jhansi, Lalitpur, Jalaun and Hamirpur, apart from Tikamgarh and Datia. The illegal trade also extended to parts of Rajasthan and Bihar, indicating a wide and organized inter-state network.

To recall, on Sunday, the Crime Branch raided two covert factories camouflaged as agricultural equipment workshops—one in Chanderi’s Kudila village under Kudila police station and another in Ramgarh village under Jatara police station in Tikamgarh district. The cops recovered five pistols, raw material and equipment capable of producing nearly 1,000 firearms.

So far, police have arrested Surendra, his associate Anandi and two others, Saif Ali and Mumtaz Ali. However, co-mastermind Narendra Parmar remains at large. Search teams have been dispatched to various places, including one to Jhansi, where crucial leads have emerged.