Nagpur: In a tough action giving a message to criminals, Nagpur police have invoked the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA) against an interstate gang involved in supply and sale of illegal firearms and ammunition. The gang had figured in the probe into the Mominpura murder case, where hotelier Jameel Ahmed was shot dead in October last year.
The MCOCA, now invoked against around 10 illegal firearm suppliers and purchasers, is the second one originating from the same case. The latest MCOCA was slapped by Ganeshpeth police.
Around 21 firearms and almost 150 bullets were recovered from Madhya Pradesh and different parts of Nagpur in the follow-up investigation of the murder. The Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar had declared a reward of Rs 2 lakh to the team of Tehsil Police Station under Senior Inspector Vinod Patil, Inspector Sandeep Buwa, Head Constable Sanjay Sahu and others.
The murder case of Ahmed was registered at Tehsil Police Station in October last year. The Tehsil police had invoked MCOCA against the alleged assailants, identified as Mohd Sohel Parvez Khan, Salman Khan and Ashish Bisen and their accomplices after detecting the offence. Substantial number of firearms and ammunition were recovered from them.
Following the investigation under CP Amitesh Kumar and Zonal DCP Gorakh Bhamre, the role of interstate gang comprising of Feroze Khan Haji, Imran Alam, Mohsin Khan, Irshad Khan, Parvez Ahmed and others including Mudassar Ali and Maqbool Khan from MP came to fore. The interstate gang, which brought the firearms and ammunition from MP, supplied them to Nagpur’s underworld.
Though the accused were linked to the murder case of Tehsil police station, the Ganeshpeth police had booked the gun-runner and their clients after it came to fore that some of the firearms and the ammunition were exchanged within their limits. After analysing their crime records, CP Kumar decided to invoke MCOCA against them at Ganeshpeth too.