Mumbai: An office-bearer of the BJP’s local unit in Maharashtra was arrested after police raided his fashion accessories store and recovered around 170 weapons, including air guns, swords and knives. Dhananjay Kulkarni, a 49-year-old businessman and vice president of the saffron party’s Dombivli unit (in Thane district) was taken into custody on Wednesday by the Maharashtra police following a tip-off.
He was booked under several sections of the Arms Act for illegally possessing deadly weapons and indulging in its sale.
The police have confirmed that Kulkarni, who ran a fashion accessories and cosmetic products store in his showroom Tapasya House of Fashion in Dombivli, also used the premise to sell weapons. “The raid was conducted after we received a tip-off from our source. When a team reached Kulkarni’s store, around 170 weapons, including eight air guns, ten swords, 38 press button knives, 25 choppers, nine kukris, nine guptis (bladed weapon concealed in a wooden case), five knives, three axes and one sickle were found. They have been seized and sent for further forensic investigations,” Sanju John, senior inspector of the Kalyan unit of Thane Crime Branch said.
While the weapons were all procured illegally, what baffled the police is Kulkarni’s decision to sell them openly at his showroom. “He has been in the business for some time and had been selling the weapons at this outlet for at least seven months,” John added.
In all, the police have seized weapons worth Rs 1.86 lakh. According to preliminary investigations, the police have claimed that Kulkarni would procure the weapons from Crawford market in south Mumbai. Some of them were also procured from Rajasthan and Punjab.
Local BJP leaders said the arms seized were antiques and were put up on display. The police, however, said they found out Kulkarni had been operating without the required license and permission. A license is a must for air guns exceeding 1.77 bore and the dealer is required to maintain a proper registry of the stocks, a police official told The Wire.
Kulkarni is believed to have sold a few caches of arms and the police are on a look out for those buyers. The BJP leader, according to the police, has failed to show any official papers or the list of buyers who have bought the weapons from him. A police official said: “It is alarming that Kulkarni openly sold these arms. Both Kulkarni and his buyers do not have a license. We are trying to find out who these buyers are and for what purpose did they procure arms.”
Although officials had sought Kulkarni’s police custody for further investigation and to find out if more people were involved in weapon procurement, the local magistrate court sent him to judicial custody. The crime branch police officials said they will be appealing against the court’s decision.
“We need his custody to find out the extent of his involvement and to find out several missing links. The investigation is still at a very nascent stage and Kulkarni’s police custody is required to dig in deeper,” a senior police officer privy to the investigations told The Wire.