4 arrested for possessing weapons

SURAT, Aug 12: Even as Assistant Commissioner of Police Chhotu Patel has left for Ahmedabad in connection with the Hanskamal Grover case ...

SURAT, Aug 12: Even as Assistant Commissioner of Police Chhotu Patel has left for Ahmedabad in connection with the Hanskamal Grover case in the Gujarat High Court, the Umra police on Tuesday arrested four security guards, employed by Grover, from Parle Point area in the city.

The police seized rifles from the accused and registered cases under sections of the Arms Act, the CrPC and the IPC for possession of deadly weapons.

Bhagirath Singh Sarsingh Thakur, Dalversingh Shridalvarsingh Yadav, Jitensingh Nathusingh Yadav and Sonelalsingh Chhagansingh Yadav, all residents of Farooqabad and Menpuri areas of Chambal in Uttar Pradesh were arrested from a piece ofland, called the Karodpati Kaka Ni Jamin plot, at Lal Bungalow area.

Additional police commissioner P C Thakur, supervising the investigations, told Express Newsline that the arms licences, with an all India permit, that were recovered from the four accused proved that they were issued by the government of Nagaland.

8220;What is surprising is that though these people are residents of Uttar Pradesh, their licences were issued in Nagaland. Moreover, they were working in Gujarat and were supposed to take the permission of the police for the arms,8221; Thakur added.

The accused would be produced before a court on Thursday, where the city police will seek a remand.

Meanwhile, the police have declared Grover an absconder, after having registered four cases of land grabbing, extortion and committing atrocities on members of the scheduled castes against him, in the past one month.

Story continues below this ad

It may be noted that pressure has been building on the city police to arrest Hanskamal Grover, allegedly involved in a number of cases of land grabbing, threatenings and giving suparis to get plots of land vacated on the outskirts of the city.

A M Jadeja, Umra PI, was also suspended for his reported inability to arrest Grover when it was most possible.

According to Thakur, Grover was evading arrest and was staying somewhere close to the city. Although the court order forbidding the police to arrest Grover expired today, the accused has not applied for an anticipatory bail, he said, adding that the police had prepared Grover8217;s detention papers under PASA and launched a massive manhunt to track him down.