Underworld’s Nepal coup: Maoist weapons

The startling link was unearthed when the ATS intercepted a group of gunrunners near Antop Hill in Central Mumbai on Sunday evening with a consignment earmarked for the Rajan gang.

An American Ruger revolver and a country-made revolver with five live rounds were recovered from the suspects. And initial investigations have revealed that one of the gunrunners Manoj Bansal Kothari is related to Chhota Rajan’s key lieutenant in Mumbai, D K Rao.

Kothari and his associate Raju Jagdish Gala alias Annya were seriously injured in Sunday’s exchange of fire. ATS chief A Raghuvanshim, however, declined to confirm the Nepal connection. ‘‘I cannot disclose details,’’ said Raghuvanshi.

Senior ATS officials believe that most of the arms seized in recent weeks have found their way here from Nepal, which are slipped into the terrai region of Himalayas before reaching Nepalganj.

An army of gunrunners have been hired to smuggle the arms from key points—Birganj and Gorakpur—to Mumbai, said ATS sources. The weapons often change hands before reaching its final destination, the sources added.

‘‘We can smell huge consignments of Maoist arms in the city,’’ said Deputy Commissioner of Police Jaijeet Singh.

Rajan’s men have been using the age-old smuggling routes with Nepal to get their arms consignments over the years. Slain lieutenant O P Singh had been one of the key operators having links with the Nepal-based gunrunners. Slain Nepalese MLA Mirza Dilshad Beg was also known as a main supplier of arms to Mumbai’s gangsters before he was terminated in 1998.

But the latest haul is particularly significant considering the current political situation in Nepal, with the Maoists on a collision course with King Gyanendra’s new government.