Kripashankar booked for possessing excess ammunition

Congress leader Kripashankar Singh, accused of amassing disproportionate assets, has been booked under the Arms Act for allegedly possessing bullets beyond permissible limits, and declared as a wanted accused, police sources said on Saturday.

The former Mumbai congress president possessed 14 bullets of 12 bore, 72 cartridges of .32 bore, nine of 7.65 bore and 15 bullets of 8 mm calibre, all beyond permissible limits. The bullets were recovered from his flat in suburban Bandra last month, they said.

While attaching properties of the former Maharashtra minister as per a Bombay high court order, a Special Investigation Team stumbled upon 400 `live' bullets at his flat, the sources said.

After going through the firearm licences issued to the Congress leader and his family, the SIT concluded that Singh, also an MLA, held 110 bullets more than the limits set by the licence terms, police sources said. "Subsequently an FIR was registered against Singh under relevant sections of the Arms Act and he was declared a wanted accused," said an officer at Nirmal Nagar police station.

The Economic Offences Wing of the Mumbai police in March attached all properties of Singh and his family in the city after lodging an FIR against them in the DA case.

Singh and his family owned 12 properties in Mumbai, one each in Panvel, Ratnagiri (Maharashtra) and another in his native place in Uttar Pradesh, according to the HC order.

The HC had on February 22 ordered the prosecution of Singh for "criminal misconduct" under the Prevention of Corruption Act and attachment of his properties. His family members were alleged to have abetted the commission of offence.