Cops seek cancellation of gun licences of 236 persons with criminal record in Maharashtra's Beed

Mumbai, Jan 7 (PTI) Police in Maharashtra's Beed, which has come into focus with the murder of a sarpanch, have sent proposals to cancel the gun licences of 236 persons to the district authorities, a senior official said on Tuesday.

"The district collector has the authority to cancel the gun licences. Therefore, the Beed police have sent a proposal to cancel the licences to the collector," a senior police official told PTI.

The process to cancel the gun licenses was initiated by the previous Superintendent of Police (SP) in Beed, he said.

"During the scrutiny of the applications received for gun licences, the senior official had found that there was a rise in such requests," he said.

Till October 2024, around 125 applications for gun licence were pending for inquiry and sanction from the SP office, he said.

"While going through two such applications, the then senior police officials found that there were criminal cases registered against the applicants, following which an exercise was conducted to check how many persons with criminal records were issued gun licences in the district earlier," he said.

"After the scrutiny, it came to light that at least 236 persons had criminal cases registered against them," he said, adding that a proposal was then sent to the district collector to cancel those gun licences.

Police have so far received confirmation about the cancellation of 46 gun licenses, suspension of 24 licences, and surrender of five others, the official said.

The issue of law and order situation in Beed district in the Marathwada region of the state came to the fore following the kidnapping and brutal murder of Massajog village head Santosh Deshmukh.

BJP MLA Suresh Dhas, who hails from Beed, talked about the Santosh Deshmukh murder case in the recent state legislature session while discussing the law and order situation in the district.

Kailas Phad, a resident of Parli in Beed, was arrested last month and booked under the Arms Act after his old video of brandishing a gun and opening fire in the air had gone viral on various social media platforms.

Police have started the process to cancel the gun licence of Phad, a supporter of Maharashtra NCP minister Dhananjay Munde, after a video surfaced wherein the former was seen firing in the air.

Notably, Munde has been facing backlash from allies and the sarpanch murder case. His associate, Walmik Karad, has been arrested in an extortion case linked to the sarpanch's murder.

Activist Anjali Damania has also taken up the issue of gun licenses issued to the people in Beed district.

In her various posts on X handle, she raised concerns over the issue and asked why 1,222 gun licences were issued in a single district.

In a post on X handle, she also posted various videos and photos of persons brandishing weapons or opening fire in the air.

Beed SP Navneet Kanwat has started reviewing all the gun licences issued in the district, and after scrutiny, a few more proposals will be sent for cancellation of gun licences, the official said.

"Police are verifying every case and trying to find out if anyone has a valid reason for the need to keep a firearm. It will take some time to analyse such cases," he added.

Currently, proposals for cancellation of three licences, including that of Kailas Phad, have been sent to the district collector office, he said. PTI DC NP