Weapons Deposited by People Missing From Punjab Police Station

Elections usually come from time to time in the country and states of India. When the election season comes, the government issues orders to the people to deposit their licensed weapons in the police stations due to security reasons. This process starts before the elections. The police station of the area collects the licensed weapons of the people in the warehouse with full details. Recently, the case of missing licensed weapons of people has come to the fore from Dayalpura police station in Bathinda district of Punjab. According to the information received from the media, licensees of 12 people are missing from the goods godown of the police station. The Punjab Police came to know about the matter when one of the weapons deposited in the police station, a 32 bore pistol, was seized from a drug smuggler. The receipt of a 32 bore pistol deposited in the police station from a drug smuggler is a serious matter. It is learned that a person from Rampura Phool area was caught with intoxicant pills and a 32 bore pistol was also recovered from him. When the police examined the weapon seized from the drug smuggler, it was found to belong to a person named Pritam Singh. When the police called Pritam Singh, he told that his licensed pistol is deposited in Dayalpura police station. After that Pritam Singh gave all the information to the police. Seeing the seriousness of the matter, Bathinda SSP immediately constituted the SIT team. In the initial investigation, the scribe of the police station has been suspended. It is being told that the Munshi police personnel of the police station have been absent from duty for the last several days. Now the police team is also conducting raids to take the accused police personnel into custody. Similarly, Master Bhajan Singh of Jalal village had given a complaint to SSP Bathinda that when his son went to study in Canada in the year 2020, he had deposited his weapon at Dayalpura police station before leaving India. His son had also given power of attorney to Bhajan Singh to sell arms. Bhajan Singh has said in the complaint that in March 2022, when he applied to take back the weapon, the police informed that the weapon was not available. In another such case, the weapon of Gurjit Singh of village Kotha Guru was deposited in the same police station of Dayalpura after his death. His son Manjinder Singh later approached the police station to get back his father’s weapon. Manjinder Singh told that when he went to the police station, he was handed over a weapon in a box. When I opened the box after returning home, it did not contain the pistol we had deposited. Meanwhile, the police have claimed that the investigation of the missing weapons has been started.

A lot of anger is also being found among the people regarding this matter. People are unable to understand as to where the weapons stored in their police station have disappeared. This incident which took place in the police station of Punjab has also raised many questions. Disappearance of weapons like this in the police station can be a cause of great concern. This incident has increased the concern of the police high officials in the state. Similarly, there is an old case of Thana Raikot. A case has been registered against three police personnel after 18 years in connection with the disappearance of a stengun and 20 cartridges from Raikot Thana Sadar. ASI Manohar Lal of Thana Raikot told the media that a case has been registered against Havaldar Jagroop Singh, Havaldar Rajinderpal Singh and SPO Ajit Singh in connection with the missing stengun and 20 cartridges. According to the information received in this case, the AIA Punjab Jalandhar Cantonment team conducted annual inspection of weapons of Police District Jagraon in the year 2004. The departmental team found during inspection that one Stengun and 20 cartridges of 9 mm were not produced. It has also come to light in the case that on the orders of Sub-Inspector Kashmir Singh, in-charge of Raikot police station, in the year 1997, the stengun, a magazine and 20 cartridges were allotted by Rajinderpal Singh to SPO Ajit Singh. However, SPO Ajit Singh had told in his statement that he had deposited this pistol in the police station in December 1997 itself. After inspection, a committee was formed to find out the disappearance of Stangan. In the report of the committee, negligence was found regarding the functioning of the police personnel.

Another such case has come to light in Punjab, in which the official AK-47 and a carbine are said to be missing. However, later the missing AK-47 and carbine were recovered. After this, no action was taken, but the concerned police station officer suppressed the matter at his own level. No report was also registered in the daily register of the police station regarding the recovery of the said government weapon. It has come to know from the media that the papers for the recruitment of Punjab Police were going on in the past. At that time, the duty of the personnel of Thana Nathana police was also engaged at the centres. Meanwhile, Punjab Home Guard jawan Baljinder Singh, posted at Thana Nathana, took away AK-47 and a carbine from the police station. The matter came to light when the police inquired about government weapons at the police station. When the investigation started in the matter, Punjab Home Guard Jawan Baljinder Singh was suspected of having both the official weapons. Due to which the police team of Thana Nathana searched his house. During this, AK-47 was recovered from a trunk kept in his house.

Because of all this, the incident of theft in the year 2019 was also remembered. In this, a soldier of Punjab Police Commando Force 4, who was going on duty after the holidays was over, had become a victim of theft. When a commando force soldier was going by bus, someone had stolen his assault 47 along with 100 live cartridges, police uniform and a bag containing four magazines. At that time, the police had registered a case against the alleged accused constable for negligence. After arrest, he was interrogated. At that time, the commandos had expressed suspicion that a woman traveling with him in the bus might have stolen the bag full of weapons mistaking it for cash. According to information, Constable Chikr Singh was going back to Patiala from Batala via Jalandhar-Ludhiana. On reaching Khanna he found that his luggage was missing. Even after searching a lot, the goods were not found, so he informed the higher officials. According to media reports, on the directions of the Punjab Government and DGP Punjab, police personnel from city police stations across the state were deployed at Sultanpur Lodhi to maintain order during the 550th Prakashotsav celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev Ji. At the end of the duty in the ceremony, all the jawans marked their presence in the head quarter, but Chikr Singh, a resident of Batala, went to his home. On Monday morning after the holidays were over, he left for duty by bus. However, information about what happened next in this case could not be obtained.

Whenever such an incident happens, it becomes a matter of concern. Right now, the disappearance of common people’s weapons from the police stations is raising many questions. The thing to think about is that where did the weapons go from the police station. Just like how recently the pistol deposited in Dayalpura police station in Bathinda district of Punjab reached the drug smuggler. Punjab government and police administration will have to investigate all this seriously. The strictest action will have to be taken against the culprits of missing weapons. Let us also tell you that the Punjab government and the police administration have launched a tremendous campaign to end the gun culture. The promotion of gun culture in Punjabi songs and social media has become a problem over the years. Efforts are being made to end this problem. Due to this campaign, action is being taken against those who promote gun culture on social media. Provocative speech has been banned in the state of Punjab to end gun culture and maintain peace and brotherhood. Along with this, strict steps have also been started against the people doing this.