Maharashtra: Dacoity bid foiled in Thane district; four held under Arms Act, IPC

The police foiled a dacoity attempt and arrested four men with weapons in Maharashtras Thane district an official said on Sunday A case has been registered under sections 399 preparation to commit dacoity and 402 assembling for the purpose of committing dacoity of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Arms Act for the incident that occurred on February 28 the official saidA patrolling team of the police spotted the accused on the road in the wee hours in the Kulgaon area he saidThe men who were standing next to a pickup van allegedly had a knife sickle chopper iron rod rope chilli powder and a bag of stones in their possession the official said The police team apprehended Eteshyam Munir Sonde Kais Mehboob Beig Dawood and Parvesh Kohri while two others managed to escape he saidMeanwhile theCrime Branch of the Mumbai Police is currently conducting a rigorous operation to validate arms licenses in the metropolis including the reregistration of those which have been issued from other statesThis decision follows the tragic murder of Shiv Sena UBT leader Abhishek Ghosalkar prompting an additional directive to verify the licenses of individuals possessing weapons for personal protection and those involved in security servicesOver the past 10 days three individuals have been arrested by Crime Branch units in their crackdown on unauthorised weapon possession an official saidJoint Commissioner of Police Crime Lakhmi Gautam told PTI Security personnel and private bodyguards employed to safeguard builders politicians etc are currently under scrutiny with their weapon licenses undergoing thorough verificationIndividuals holding licenses from other states and utilising their firearms in Mumbai are required to transfer their licenses and furnish relevant firearm documentation to the city police the official statedThe official stressed failure to provide adequate details or documentation regarding a weapon will result in charges under the Arms Act It is imperative to note that individuals carrying firearms whether as security guards or personal bodyguards are prohibited from displaying them openlyIn a recent enforcement action Crime Branch arrested Jamrul Hanif Khan 26 and Mohammad Yasar Mohammad Iqbal 34 in Ghatkopar on February 21 for possessing firearms for which license was provided by an additional district magistrate in Poonch Jammu and Kashmir for their protectionHowever the duo had not registered these weapons with the Maharashtra police leading to charges under the Arms ActIt may be mentioned that over 4 lakh arms licenses issued from Jammu and Kashmir are already under the scanner of the CBI as it is alleged that many of the licenses issued from the erstwhile state now a union territory were prepared by using forged documentsSimilarly on February 29 Hanumant Pratap Vishnudatta Pandey 45 was arrested after a revolver and four cartridges were discovered in his possession in suburban KurlaPandey who provided security services independently had failed to renew the license for his firearm obtained from Uttar Pradesh and had not transferred it to Maharashtra or notified the relevant authorities the official saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever