Amritsar police busts an inter-state arms smuggling racket operated by Australia based Ritik Rally and jail inmate Kunal Mahajan

AMRITSAR: Amidst the ongoing campaign to make Punjab a safe and secure state as per the directions of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Amritsar Commissionerate Police has busted an Interstate Arms smuggling racket being operated on the directions of an Australia-based Ritik Rally and Jail inmate Kunal Mahajan with the arrest of its seven members, said Commissioner of Police (CP) Amritsar Gurpreet Singh Bhullar here on Friday.

Those arrested have been identified as Jashandeep Singh alias Chillar (19) and Karandeep Singh alias Karanjit alias Dhani (21), both residents of Guru ki Wadali in Amritsar, Sharanjit Singh alias Sunny (24) of village Behla in Tarn Taran, Deepak Kumar alias Deepu (24) of Chohla Sahib in Tarn Taran, Sandeep Singh alias Kaka (26) of Amritsar and Narinder Singh alias Sonu alias Soni (30) of village Hothian in Tarn Taran.

CP Gurpreet Bhullar said that Police have also recovered 11 weapons including 10 .32 bore pistols along with 10 magazines and 15 live cartridges, and one .12 bore DBBL rifle, besides, impounding their Maruti swift car.

He said that acting swiftly on secret information about illegal weapons being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to supply them to criminal elements in area of Amritsar and Tarn Taran, Police teams from the Amritsar Commissionerate launched a special operation and apprehended seven accused persons from different locations from the district.

“During questioning, the arrested accused persons have disclosed that they were smuggling weapons from Madhya Pradesh on the directions of Australia-based Ritik Rally and Jail inmate Kunal Mahajan to further supply them to criminal activities,” he said, while suspecting role of one US-based handler.

In this regard, two cases— FIR no. 19 dated 27/1/2024 under sections 25 and 29 of the Arms Act at Police Station Chheharta and FIR no. 7 dated 1/2/2024 under sections 25 (7) and 29 of the Arms Act at Police Station Sultanwind— have been registered.