Woman accused of ferrying arms to avenge post-Godhra riots arrested after 18 years

Anjum, who was booked under the Arms Act in 2005, has been remanded in police custody for three days, it added. Her husband Feroze Kanpuri, also an accused in the case, had died in 2009.

According to the statement, the couple, along with others, collected Rs 50,000 to purchase weapons and cartridges to “take revenge after the communal riots in Ahmedabad”. “To avenge the 2002 post-Godhra riots, three men from the city, Waris Pathan, Naseem Pathan and Nadir Khan Pathan, decided to buy arms and ammunition by collecting funds. They collected Rs 50,000 from people in 2005 and gave it to one Ghulam Rabbani Shaikh to buy guns and cartridges from Uttar Pradesh,” it added.

All four persons were arrested in 2005 and 10 countrymade guns as well as an equal number of cartridges were seized from them, the statement said. They are currently facing trial, the ATS said.

“Their interrogation revealed that Feroze Kanpuri and his wife Anjum Kanpuri were also involved in the crime. As directed by Ghulam, they had gone to Dahod in their vehicle and collected some of the arms and delivered them to Waris in Ahmedabad,” the statement said.

Deputy Superintendent of Police (ATS) S L Chaudhary told The Indian Express, “They were feeling insecure and thus bought the weapons.”

WITH PTI INPUTS