Tevatia may be charged under NSA

Additional Director General of Police (Meerut Zone) Gurbachan Lal told The Indian Express that they would be recommending NSA and Gangsters Act against Manvir Singh Tevatia,“as he has been found to be indulged in criminal acts”.

Lal said that a gang of youths led by Tevatia kept firing at the police team from 1 pm to 5 pm on Saturday. “This confirmed that they had a large number of ammunition stored with them. The empty shells recovered from the village later substantiated it and the police also came to know that the rioters were equipped with both semi-automatic and country-made firearms,” Lal added.

According to the police,information collected from a villagers revealed that in th days preceding the agitation,Tevatia had been holding firing practice every evening in which about 50 youths took part. He had even engaged some women in the job too and had provided training of operating firearms during these firing practices,Lal said.

“The firearms and the ammunition had been arranged by Tevatia through illegal means and he had invested a huge money in purchasing them. A team of Special Task Force is also probing into the arms racket link that helped Tevatia in getting the firearms and the cartridges,the ADG said.

Moreover,Lal said,that earlier Tevatia and his group of armed youths had held several government officials hostage. Over 19 criminal cases are pending against him and his associates at Dankaur,Rabupura and Kakod police stations of Gautam Budhha Nagar district in the last one year.

“The criminal acts of Tevatia and his gang of youths equipped with illegal firearms make enough grounds to initiate Gangsters Act and the NSA against him,” Lal added.

The UP Police also conducted raids in Delhi and Faridabad district of Haryana in search of Tevatia. Special DG (Law & Order) Brij Lal,however,refused to give details of the raids and said the police are also searching for four other associates of Tevatia.