Ex-COD employee picked up over alleged supply of arms spares

Madhya Pradesh police Wednesday picked up a retired employee of the Army's Central Ordnance Depot (COD) here for allegedly supplying spare parts of weapons to a man who was recently caught with an AK 47 rifle in Bihar.

A police officer said they suspect that the former armourer was in contact with some working as well as retired COD personnel involved in illicit arms business.

"We have picked up Purshottam Lal, a retired armourer (repairer of weapons) of the COD. We are questioning him after his name cropped up during the interrogation of Imran Alam, from whose possession AK 47 rifles were recovered in Bihar," Superintendent of Police Amit Singh said.

The SP said Lal retired from the COD in 2008.

However, Singh declined to reveal the modus operandi of the accused saying it would negatively impact the probe.

The police suspect that the retired employee of the COD used to supply spare parts of junked weapons to Imran and other persons involved in illegal gun manufacturing and smuggling, sources in the police department said.

The COD junks the arms after they are of no use to the Indian Army. Such scrap is officially auctioned, they added.

"Lal might have repaired some components of the auctioned arms and might have supplied it to Imran and elsewhere," sources said.

Colonel Arun Kumar, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of Army Central Command's Madhya Bharat Area here, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Bihar police had last week claimed to have busted a gunrunning racket with the arrest of Mohd Imran Alam, from whose possession three automatic rifles, hundreds of ammunition and spare parts used in the assault weapon were recovered.

A police party conducted a raid in Jubilee Well locality of Jamalpur town in Munger district of Bihar and arrested Alam, who was carrying a bag and a blanket inside which the items were concealed, an officer had said.

The Bihar police officer had said that during his interrogation, Alam said he had brought the weapons from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and was intending to sell them locally.