The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday carried out searches at 17 locations, including six in Bihar, in connection with its ongoing investigation into a case linked to the recovery of AK-47 assault rifle parts and ammunition in Muzaffarpur in May this year.
The Bihar police initially registered the case on May 7, and the NIA took over the investigation on August 5.
NIA teams conducted search operations at the residences of suspects linked to the case at Muzaffarpur, Vaishali and Saran districts, which is connected to the recovery of assault rifle from Fakuli Police Station in Muzaffarpur district.
Four individuals have been named in the NIA First Information Report (FIR) after being arrested by the police following the recovery of AK-47 rifle parts, as part of a larger network of illegal sale and purchase of prohibited arms and ammunition. Those arrested were identified as Deomuni Rai alias Anish, Satyam Kumar, Vishal Kumar and Ahmad Anasri — currently lodged in Beur jail.
The Bihar STF with the assistance of Muzaffarpur police first arrested two persons — Satyam and his cousin Vishal — from Muzaffarpur railway station while they were in possession of one butt and one scope of an illegally procured AK-47 assault rifle. During interrogation, they revealed that the duo purchased the rifle from Ahmad Ansari, a resident of Gopalganj. The seized firearm brought from Dimapur in Nagaland and handed over to Deomuni, son of Kudhni panchayat mukhia Nand Kishore Yadav alias Bhola Rai for safe keeping.
Later, police detained Deomani and recovered the assault rifle and five rounds of live ammunition. Ahmad Ansari, who is also involved in the illegal sale and purchase of firearms, was arrested by STF on May 10 from Dimapur in Nagaland. At the time of his arrest, Ansari was found with a mobile phone and two walkie-talkies.
“Today, NIA sleuths searched the house of Bhola Rai at Mankauli village in Muzaffarpur. The raid began at approximately 3am. The NIA team conducted a thorough search of the premises, seizing several documents and lakhs rupees of the cash,” said an official, familiar with the matter. Another team raided the house of an advocate Sandeep Kumar Sinha alias Chhotu, at SDO road in Vaishali while third team searched the house of Satyam Kumar at Krishnapuri locality in Hajipur, confirmed his brother Bikram Kumar. NIA officials, however, have not disclosed details regarding the seizures from Sinha’s residence.
Separate teams raided the houses of the chairman of Parsa Nagar Panchayat, Ayesha Khatoon, at Parsa in Saran district. “The central agency raided the houses of Ayesha Khatoon and her son Mohammad Karmullah Ansari, ward member of Nagar Panchayat,” said the SHO Sunil Kumar.
Wednesday’s searches appeared to be part of a coordinated effort to gather evidence and investigate individuals potentially linked to the procurement of sophisticated weapons. Investigation revealed that the arrested persons were involved in the sale and purchase of arms ammunitions.
