Ram Binaya Singh, 28, of Balara-4, Sarlahi, was arrested with three modern small arms, a bulk of ammunitions and two powerful grenades in a "buy and bust" operation by the special task force of the Metropolitan Police Range Kathmandu on Tuesday morning.[break] His younger brother Jitendra Singh, 25, a former senior constable of the Armed Police Force (APF) and an inmate of the Dillibazaar jail, has emerged as the kingpin of the racket, police said.
Jitendra had allegedly been operating the racket ever since he was sentenced to 20-year imprisonment on April 2008 for hoarding over 1,800 rounds of bullets while in service at the Armed Police Force. He was arrrested on September 2007 and Special APF Court had sentenced him to life imprisonment along with confiscation of all his properties. The Appellate Court later reduced it to 10 years, according to officials.
Also arrested was Binod Chaudhary-- a neighbor of Singh brothers -- whose own brother Pramod, another member of the racket, is at large.
The busted duo reportedly told the investigators during primary interrogations that they were involved in selling small arms in the capital as well as to the underground armed outfits in Tarai under the direct command of Jitendra from the jail.
The police investigation has so far found that the racket involved four persons -- Singh brothers and Chaudhary brothers -- playing their respective roles. Jitendra would approach the criminals requiring small arms through contacts within the jail and also deal with them using cell phones. Jailbirds are prohibited to use cell phones.
Following Jitendra´s deals, Ram Binaya would fetch small arms from India and take them to the capital through public vehicles. In the meantime, Chaudhary brothers would communicate with the buyers in the capital.
“They would take 50 percent of the negotiated amount in advance,” an official involved in the operation said.
Ram Binaya had brought one revolver, two 9 mm pistols and two 36 mm hand grenades including ammunitions on a passenger bus of the Ma Kalyani Travels from Gaur in Rautahat district. Gaur was the racket´s mid-way station employing Ram Binaya to import small arms particularly from Bairganiya, the bordering Indian town, and also to deal with the armed groups across central Tarai.
Police claimed that the racket had already sold dozens of small arms in the capital alone. The seizure came a few days after Metropolitan Police Crime Division busted two leaders of a similar racket, from Kathmandu and Bara respectively.
The special task force raided the rented room at Kuleshwor after striking a fake deal with the arms racketeers. Both detainees told Republica in a short interview at Hanumandhoka that they were closely associated with various “Janatantrik” groups and procured them small arms as per the latter´s demands.
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