According to the police FIR, the deputy commissioners of various Jammu and Kashmir districts, between 2012 and 2016, “fraudulently and illegally issued bulk arms licenses in lieu of monetary consideration”. (File Photo)

A CBI court in Srinagar on Monday remanded an IAS officer and a former deputy commissioner from Kashmir in police custody for ten days, a day after they were arrested for fraudulently issuing gun licences in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir.

IAS officer Rajiv Ranjan and Itrit Hussain Rafiqui, both former district magistrates of Kupwara, had been arrested Sunday by the CBI, which had taken over the probe into the gun licence racket from the state police in 2018.

According to the police FIR, the deputy commissioners of various Jammu and Kashmir districts, between 2012 and 2016, “fraudulently and illegally issued bulk arms licenses in lieu of monetary consideration”.

A statement issued by the agency said the special CBI judge in Srinagar sent the two to police custody.

”CBI has arrested a private person on 24.02.2020 on the allegations of working as conduit of gun dealers and officials of various districts of the then state of J&K and also indulged in various financial transactions with other co-accused persons, including public servants. The arrested private person is in CBI custody up to 05.03.2020,” the statement said. “During further investigation, the alleged role of both the then district magistrates, Kupwara surfaced during their tenure.”

The gun licence racket had been unearthed by the Rajasthan Police in 2017-18. The state’s police found that thousands of licences had been issued by authorities in various districts of Jammu and Kashmir in a fraudulent manner. It also found that many of the people who received the licences had criminal records.

The then Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, N N Vora, handed over the probe to CBI. On July 12, 2018, the Governor revoked individual gun licences issued between January 2017 and February 2018.