On 6th November, a special police team in Madhya Pradesh had raided a gambling den owned by Congress leader Gajendra Sonkar alias Gajju and recovered many illegal weapons and live ammunition. Out of the 17 recovered pistols, two were found to be licensed in the name of an employee at his stone crusher plant. Police have arrested the employee and initiated the process of cancelling the license.
During the search at his house, 17 illegal weapons, including two carbines, 19 magazines, and 1478 different cartridges, were recovered. Two of them were registered in the name of one Prashant Patial, a resident of Modivada Cantt. During the investigation, the special team found that Patial works at Sonkar’s stone crusher as a supervisor at a monthly salary of 15,000 rupees.
In the initial interrogation, police found out that Sonkar got the license in Patial’s name as there were criminal cases registered against him. Sonkar’s arms license was cancelled in 2014. SP Sidharth Bahuguna said that they had initiated the process to cancel the license of the two pistols.
The case against Gajju Sonkar
On 6th November, Madhya Pradesh Police raided the house of former MP Congress Committee secretary and Congress leader Gajendra Sonkar. During the house search, they recovered a large cache of weapons, including 17 pistols that included two carbines, 1478 live cartridges, 19 magazines, an axe, and more. The police arrested 41 gamblers and recovered 42 mobile phones, playing cards, and 7.4 lakh cash as well.
SP Siddharth Bahuguna said on 6th November that they had booked Gajendra Sonkar, his brother Mahendra Sonkar alias Monu, his father Rajkumar Sonkar alias Babu Nati, manager Rajneesh Verma, Bhailal Patel, and Omkar alias Babua Sonkar in the case. While the police arrested Gajendra and Mahendra, others are still absconding. Police have announced Rs.5000 bounty on the absconding accused.
Raid conducted on gambling den
The illegal weapons and other incriminating material were recovered when the special police team had raided a gambling den run by Sonkar on November 6. 41 gamblers were caught in the act and over 7 lakh rupees in cash was also found.
NSA imposed on Sonkar brothers
As per the reports, the District Magistrate and Collector Karmaveer Sharma’s court imposed the National Security Act on the Sonkar brothers on Friday based on the report submitted by SP Bahuguna. Gajendra has 12 cases registered against him under the Prevention of Gambling Act, assault, Arms Act, attempt to murder, Explosive Substances Act, etc. His brother Mahendra has five cases under assault, theft, arms act, gambling registered against him. As the NSA has been imposed on the brothers, they will remain in Central Jail even after their remand period is over.
Other accused in the cases, Gajendra Sonkar’s father Nati Babu Sonkar, manager Rajnish Varma, associates Bhailal Patel and Omkar Sonkar are absconding. The district police has declared rewards of Rs 5000 each on them.
Gajendra Sonkar is a Congress leader and has been seen with senior party leaders in the past. His Twitter account says that he had been spearheading party membership campaigns in the area. He had shared photographs of himself with Rahul Gandhi and Kamal Nath.
#RahulGandhiInJabalpur @INCIndia के राष्ट्रीय अध्यक्ष श्री @RahulGandhi के प्रथम नगर आगमन पर पूर्व विधानसभा 97 कांग्रेस नेता गजेन्द्र सोनकर गज्जू द्वारा हजारो कार्यकर्ताओं के साथ स्वागत किया और 2000 लोगो को कांग्रेस की प्राथमिक सदस्य्ता दिलाई @WithPGV #CongressSankalpYatra pic.twitter.com/uOhwnXnNbM
— Gajendra sonkar gajju (@gajjusonkar) October 7, 2018
Illegal arms manufacturing factory seized in Jabalpur
In another news, Jabalpur Police has raided an illegal arms manufacturing factory. As per the reports, long-distance slingshots used during CAA-NRC protests and riots were manufactured here. The infamous slingshots were made with the help of YouTube tutorials and were highly accurate even at 150-200 meter range. During the protests, they were in high demand in Hanumanatal, Gohalpur, Adhartal region.
Jabalpur in news..
— Shrin (@ShrrinG) November 18, 2020
The Slingshot used in Anti CAA Riots was made here https://t.co/REsT8MM9Vl
Police have recovered six swords, airguns, and other weapons during the raid. Hanumanatal police station in-charge of Umesh Golhani said that the factory belonged to Shahnawaz alias Ravi Ansari, resident of Thakkar village. According to CSP, Akhilesh Gaur said that Ansari has been manufacturing arms for a long time. He had manufactured many custom-made weapons for criminals in the past. Police are now making a list of his customers for further action.