Arms Trade: Crime Branch Busts Illegal Gun Factories In MP's Tikamgarh

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Stolen bikes were being stripped for their iron and steel, which in turn were modified to manufacture pistols at the two illegal factories busted by Crime Branch on Sunday in Tikamgarh district.

The lead came from vehicle lifters recently caught in Bhopal. During interrogation, one of them disclosed that he sold stolen motorcycles to Tikamgarh, where they were re-forged into firearms.

On their lead, police arrested one Mukhtar with a sophisticated pistol who confessed purchasing it from Tikamgarh for Rs 32,000. Acting swiftly, Crime Branch raided two units — one in Kudila police station’s Chanderi village and another in Jatara police station’s Ramgarh village of Tikamgarh.

The factories were camouflaged as agricultural equipment workshops but were in fact producing country-made pistols using lathe machines and other tools.

So far, five pistols have been seized, along with tools and raw material capable of producing nearly 1,000 more weapons. The shocker pipes, handles and other smaller bike parts were modified for making barrels and other parts of illegal firearms, revealed investigations.

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Police commissioner Harinarayanachari Mishra said the mastermind, Surendra Vishwakarma, had only in January this year completed a seven-year prison term in a loot case.

On release, he revived the family’s illegal business. His father, Anandi Vishwakarma, had earlier been caught making weapons under the cover of trolley and farm tool manufacturing.

Trained by a relative in Phulera, Anandi later involved his sons Dharmendra and Surendra, as well as a minor grandson, in the business.

Investigations revealed that the family initially only assembled parts but had shifted to full-scale manufacturing in a rented warehouse at Ramgarh, chosen deliberately in a rural setting to avoid suspicion.

The pistols were supplied via Jhansi in Uttar Pradesh and carried fake trademarks of foreign-made weapons. Among criminals, they had gained popularity as the “Guns of Ramgarh.”

Police have identified and are tracing several commission agents and middlemen who distributed these weapons. Besides Surendra and Anandi, police also arrested Saif Ali and Mumtaz Ali involved in the circulation of illegal firearms.

Tough competitors of gun makers of Munger, Khandwa

Police investigations show the Tikamgarh factories were gearing up for large-scale arms production with plans to expand their network across Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, and beyond.

Their operation posed stiff competition to the notorious arms hubs of Munger in Bihar and Khandwa in Madhya Pradesh. Raw material seized from the warehouses indicated the capacity to produce nearly 1,000 pistols, raising alarms over the potential reach of this illegal arms syndicate.