LORDGANJ police arrested a 21- year-old man involved in trading of firearms and seized three country-made pistols, three cartridges and Rs 1,000 in cash from his possession. The accused was identified as Premlal alias Sandeep Soni (21), son of Sushil Kumar Soni a resident of Shantinagar near Kali Mandir in Damoh Naka. Kotwali CSP Akhilesh Gaur, while interacting with media informed that, on the night of August 9, police received infor- mation that a young man wearing a yellow shirt and blue jeans was carrying a country-made pistol near the JDA building in Shatabdipuram. Acting on the tip-off, police reached the location and spotted a person matching the description. He tried to flee on seeing the police but was surrounded and apprehended. The accused was identified as Premlal alias Sandeep Soni. During a search, police recovered two pistols from a cloth bag he was carrying and another country-made pistol tucked into the right side of his jeans.

 

Three cartridges and Rs 1,000 in cash were also recovered from his pockets. During interrogation, Soni informed police that he had purchased the firearms from Lucky Patel and had previously bought similar weapons from him for resale. Police seized the three pistols, three cartridges and cash and initiated action against both accused under Sections 25(1) and 27 of the Arms Act. As the two were allegedly involved in organised firearm trading, police also invoked Section 111(1) of BNS. Police said Lucky Patel is a habitual criminal with around 20 criminal cases registered against him, including cases related to firearms, explosives, attempt to murder and extortion. Preventive action had been taken against him several times. In view of his continued criminal activities, he was recently arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) and lodged in Jabalpur Central Jail. The criminal was arrested with active working of police team comprised of ASI, Manoj Goswami, Pushpraj Parte and Rajesh Verma, along with Constables Shubham Patel, Pankaj Sanodiya, Hulesh Paraste and Rishabh Barman.