An engineer has been arrested in Bengaluru for his alleged involvement in an illegal arms supply racket, leading to the seizure of weapons and an ongoing investigation into a wider network.
A 34-year-old man was arrested from Mandya Pradesh for his alleged involvement in illegal supply of arms, police said on Wednesday.
With the arrest of Irfan, a civil engineer from Bhopal, police claimed to have seized three country-made pistols, parts of one revolver, and two live rounds from him, they said.
He was allegedly running an illegal gun supply racket alongside his professional work, police said.
A case was registered on February 25 under the Arms Act at the Economic Offences Wing of the Central Crime Branch (CCB), police said.
During the course of investigation, police nabbed two individuals identified as Javed Alam (19) and Syed Masood (26) from Siddapura in Bengaluru and seized from their possession a .32 mm country-made pistol and 50 live rounds, a senior police officer said.
They revealed that Irfan had illegally supplied weapons to them from Mandya Pradesh, he said.
Continuing the investigation, the CCB's Economic Offences Wing police traced and apprehended the accused on March 12 at his residence in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, the officer said.
During interrogation, Irfan confessed to illegally supplying pistols and live ammunition. Based on his confession, three country-made pistols, parts of one revolver, and two live rounds kept at his residence were seized, he said.
City Police Commissioner Seemant Kumar Singh told reporters here that further investigation is underway to trace Irfan's source and identify other members of the interstate arms network.
The accused was produced before the jurisdictional court on March 13 and was taken into police custody for 11 days. Further investigation is in progress.