Gun licence of 27 persons revoked

Nagpur: City police chief Amitesh Kumar has suspended 27 firearms licences since 2020, including 10 in five months this year, to ensure the growing ‘gun culture’ in city is curtailed. The CP aims to make Nagpur ‘arms free’.
Apart from withdrawing permits from civilians to possess firearms legally, Kumar has also started a stringent drive against any types of weapons, including firearms, in Nagpur at both police station and crime branch level.

Till April, around 181 cases were registered under the Arms Act, including a couple of firearms ones, after the CP cracked the whip.
Whether businessmen, social workers or bookies, Kumar defended withdrawal of their arms licence during the hearings and appeals over a period of time by citing their past crime records. The city has around 1,900 to 2,000 arms licence holders but many are now learnt to be under the scanner of the top cop.
Kumar said the trend of flaunting licenced firearms, posting pictures with them on social media in an intimidating manner and any other form of misusing them by violating the norms would not be tolerated. “Anyone having previous offences registered against them or their firearms misused cannot hold such weapons and hence their licence was cancelled. Nagpur police are following a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards arms culture, especially firearms,” said Kumar, adding, all the legal formalities and hearings were completed as per the law before any licence was suspended.
The top cop refused to comment on how such persons with crime records, including a top bookie, got firearms licence from his precedessors.
“All the goons having records of Arms Acts in the past are being regularly checked and are being legally acted against with fresh perspective,” said the CP, adding, house and body searches of criminals and their dens are regularly underway in Nagpur.