Madhepura: A female arms supplier named, Ram Kumari Devi and her accomplice, Saurav Kumar, have been arrested with three sophisticated Munger-made pistols with six magazines near Diwani Tola of Sahugarh village situated near Madhepura district headquarters in Bihar. Both the apprehended arms peddlers are the residents of Bhan Tekthi village of Ghailarh Block of Madhepura district.
This is a rare instance in the district, where a woman has entered the illicit trade of arms trafficking. The apprehended female kingpin, active in the Madhepura-Saharsa area, is the wife of one Chandra Shekhar Azad alias Chandu Mandal, who has been languishing in jail for smuggling and supplying arms to criminals and anti-social elements in the Kosi Division of Bihar.
“The husband of Ram Kumari Devi used to sell firearms to criminals and bad guys in the locales of Madhepura-Saharsa districts. He was caught and accordingly convicted. He has been serving the sentence since then. However, his wife picked up her husband’s contraband trade of arms smuggling. She began to work with the network of arms smugglers. We’ve come to know that criminals from the Mansi-Khagaria zone have supplied the weapons recovered from Ram Kumari Devi and her apprentice,” Rajesh Kumar, SP, Madhepura District, said.
The recovered pistols are of 7.65 mm calibre weapons, and look extremely sophisticated. “The pistols confiscated are brand-new and are quite lethal. Upon interrogation, we’ve come to know that each of the pistols would fetch anything like Rs. 55,000-60,000”, Kumar elaborated. “We’ve intensified our investigation into any possible involvement of a wider network of the crime syndicates. I would speak to the SP of Munger and appraise him of the recovery of the contraband weapons from these arrested arms suppliers,” he added.
With the coming festivities of Durga Puja and Diwali, the Madhepura police have accelerated the surprise vehicle checking. It was during such a check that led to the recovery of the pistols and the arrests of these two criminals. “A motorcycle was approaching from the direction of Bhan Tekthi village. A boy, in his early twenties, was riding it with a woman sitting as a pillion. Upon noticing a police picket lying ahead, the guy took a sharp turn and began to flee. Our police immediately came into action and caught them easily. When searched, they recovered the pistols and the magazines along with a mobile phone,” Kumar disclosed.
The police team, which apprehended the criminals, comprised Raj Kishore Mandal, Station House Officer, Madhepura; Patring Paswan, Sub Inspector, Madhepura; Kanhaiya Kumar; Neetu Kumari; Subhangi Kumari; and Surya Narayan Paswan among others. A police case (1071-23) under sections 25 (1A), 25 (1AA), 25 (1B) A, 26 (2) and 26 Arms Act has been constituted. Further investigation is on.
