The Chittoor district police are planning to launch a massive drive to confiscate illegal firearms in various villages, particularly in the western mandals of Palamaner, Punganur, Baireddipalle, Tamballpalle and Madanapalle, immediately after the ongoing Tirumala Brahmotsavams. In 2016, a special drive led to the seizure of 75 country-made weapons in the Palamaner circle. A similar drive in 2015 led to a mass confiscation of crude weapons in the western mandals.
Superintendent of Police S.V. Rajasekhar Babu said an action plan was ready to involve the public and the police officers at the mandal and village levels to zero in on those holding illegal firearms. “The public should cooperate with the police in passing on information on those holding the weapons without licences. Apart from making seizures, we will also book criminal cases against the holders under the Arms Act,” the SP said.
The trigger
The latest episode of a farmer getting shot in the forests of Boodidapalle in Palamaner mandal on September 19 had exposed the vulnerability of the western mandals to the indiscriminate use of country-made weapons.
A poacher had arranged the gun-trap in the forests intending to bag wild boars, but the gunfire claimed the life of a farmer in search of a missing cow. During the last six months, nearly half a dozen cases involving country-made weapons took place in the western mandals. A few months ago, the police seized carcasses of wild boars and illegal firearms near Madanapalle.
Chittoor district also has a violent history when it comes to handling crude weapons.
Eight years ago, an absconding army jawan had threatened picnickers in the forests close to the Falls with a country weapon and tried to rape a woman, after beating his husband. In July 2012, a four-member gang lifted away a sleeping housewife from her residence intending gang-rape.
When she resisted, she was shot in the neck and back with a country weapon. She, however, survived.
Supply from TN
Palamaner Circle Inspector A. Surender Reddy said hundreds of farmers had been using country-made weapons to protect their crops abutting the forest areas from wild boars. Most of them procured the arms from neighbouring Tamil Nadu. “Generally we conduct raids in the rural side during the election time to seize weapons. As per the instructions of the SP, we are gearing up for a special drive immediately after the ongoing Brahmotsavams at Tirumala as the entire district force is posted there for bandobast,” he said.
The official also appealed to the people in rural areas to voluntarily surrender firearms, if any, to avoid raids and cases.