JAMMU: The appearance of 21 accused in a case concerning the alleged granting of illicit arms licences in Jammu and Kashmir between 2012 and 2016 was demanded by a special court for CBI cases here on Monday. After hearing a complaint filed by the Enforcement Directorate‘s Jammu wing through special public prosecutor Ashwani Khajuria under sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Special Judge anti-corruption Bala Jyoti delivered the decision. “Carried over the complaint in its entirety and reviewed all available documentation, which indicates that the accused person appears to have committed offences (under PMLA) at least on the surface, prompting the issuance of a process to secure their presence.In a four-page judgement, the court stated, “The office is directed to issue notices to the accused for appearance and for filing their reply on the next date of hearing.” According to the ruling, S K Bhat, the attorney, made a request to postpone the CBI’s taking of cognizance of the ED complaint dated 2020 until after the agency has provided a status report on the offences that served as the basis for the complaint and the CBI court has received the final report under the J&K CrPC. The court stated that a copy of the same is sent to the opposing side for a thorough response. “Let this matter come up again on April 26 for appearance of all accused persons and for further proceedings,” it said. The August 2018 FIR of the CBI (special crime branch, Chandigarh) alleges that there was a bulk issuing of arms licences in Jammu and Kashmir between 2012 and 2016. This leads to the criminal case of money laundering. By “flouting” the established guidelines and due process in lieu of “illicit” monetary consideration that was paid to government officers/officials through arms dealers/brokers and generated proceeds of crime, the ED claims that approximately 2.78 lakh arms licences were issued to various defence and paramilitary personnel. A month earlier, the ED conducted searches against an IAS officer, a few Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officers and government officials, and arms dealers. In April 2022, the ED attached assets worth Rs 4.69 crore under the anti-money laundering law. The agency claimed to have found “incriminating” records that purportedly showed interactions between gun sellers and officials in the process of issuing unauthorised arms licences in Jammu and Kashmir between 2012 and 2016. “Government functionaries of J&K in connivance with many arms dealers, brokers of J&K have brazenly flouted the norms, procedure and rules for issuing arms licences in lieu of monetary considerations by abuse of their official position as public servants and generated huge proceeds of crime,” according to the ED. IAS officer Rajeev Ranjan, a former DC from Kupwara, and KAS officer Itrat Hussain, a former DC from Kupwara, are among the suspects in this case. The CBI detained them in 2020.
