Hyderabad police commissioner A.K. Khan said the police department suspects that several of sports gun license-holders are not genuine shooters. “There are around 114 shooters in the city. I suspect several of them are not genuine. We are going to crackdown on persons who have secured gun licenses in the sports category though they are not professional shooters,” Mr Khan said on Monday.

There are 65 sports license-holders who have 175 weapons between them. “There are great shooters like Gagan Narang and Gusti Noria. Some of them hold 10 weapons and we have given them permission to hold 1 lakh rounds (of ammunition) per year. They have taken the city to fame in the Olympics and the Commonwealth Games,” said Mr Khan. “However, some persons approach us with certificates from rifle associations. Some even get fake certificates. When we ask them whether they are renowned shooters, they are not able to prove it,” Mr Khan said.

“A renowned shooter is a person who gets into the first 15 positions in a national-level competition,” Mr Khan explained, adding that in future anyone approaching him for gun licenses in the sports category would have to prove their credibility. The top cop said that the city police was ready to promote sports but at the same time want to prevent bogus applicants from getting sports category licenses. There are 4,685 gun license-holders in the city possessing 6,064 weapons. “We have recently cancelled the licenses of 100 people for various reasons. Many of them hadn’t renewed them for years. We will prosecute them in serious cases,” said Mr Khan.

Reacting to Mr Khan’s comments, an official from the Rifle Association of Andhra Pradesh said, “In our shooting fraternity, we get the certificates issued from the National Rifle Association of India, and I don’t think anyone would be able to fake it.”