The ministry not just furnished the details regarding the sale of old weapons but also defended it before the panel of SAC stating that: "selling old weapons to acquire modern ones was timely and practical." [break]
The SAC had directed the ministry to bring out the facts and furnish documents related to the controversial sale of weapons to a US firm in 2001. Mukunda Sharma, the SAC secretary, told Republica that the committee will take up the details in its next meeting on Thursday.
The SAC had asked the ministry to look into the sale after it found out that the government received only Rs 244 million (US$ 3.3 million) from the sale of the arms that are believed to have archeological values though the government had fixed a minimum price of US$ 3.37 million.
Among the sold 450 tons of 200-year old military antique weapons, there were 31,213 weapons and 13,845 miscellaneous items, including various types of khukuris and rapiers.
In addition, there were 188 old cannons and their carriages, 25,144 unserviceable old weapons, 25,381 bayonets and 1,935 unserviceable miscellaneous items.
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