Three held for supplying illegal firearms

Three persons, including a man and his son, were arrested for allegedly supplying illegal firearms in the national capital and other states, police said Monday.

The accused, arrested on Sunday, were identified as Praveen Kumar Verma (51), his son Prateek Kumar Verma (23), residents of Firozabad district in Uttar Pradesh and Sonu Singh (22), a resident of Dholpur in Rajasthan, they said.

According to police, there were many cases of extortion, robbery, attempt to murder registered against Sonu in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

Sonu used to courier pilfered cartridges to various places in Haryana, Rajasthan, Western UP and Delhi, a senior police officer said.

"Police got a tip-off on Sunday that Parveen, along with his associate, would come near Ashram to deliver the illegal firearms, following which a trap was laid and the accused were apprehended," said Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Manishi Chandra.

During interrogation, Praveen revealed that since 2007, he has been involved in this trade. He purchased two-wheelers and cars for transporting these cartridges to Rajasthan, Bihar, Western Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other States, the DCP said.

He also engaged his elder son Prateek in this business.

He, along with his son, used to visit Etah, Etawa, Mainpuri, Firozabad and other places to collect pilfered cartridges from his contacts and later supply them to receivers across various states, they said.

Praveen used to supply over 3,500-4,000 cartridges per month, police said, adding that further investigation is on to identify all links of this arms and ammunition network.