Hyderabad: While controlling illegal weapons is itself a concern to the police, the misuse of weapons by the licenced holders is adding to their woes. The police follows strict norms while issuing weapons licences. However, monitoring the activities of the weapons holder is a challenge. Senior police officers said that after the earlier incidents, where licenced weapons were found to be misused by their owners, the city police started geo-tagging the licence holder which yielded results. The city has nearly 4,500 licenced weapons, while Cyberabad and Rachakonda together have around 2,500 licenced weapons.
In February 2016, Dr Shashikiran shot his partner Dr Uday over an argument with a licenced weapon at Himayathnagar. Though Dr Uday escaped with a bullet injury, Shashikiran shot himself next day and committed suicide in a farmhouse in Moinabad. In August 2017, Sriram Bhadraiah, a former MLA of Mahabubabad, was booked by the police for assaulting a realtor with his licenced weapon at Kothapet. There are many incidents when the licensed weapons are used for threatening opponents in financial or land disputes that go unreported. “There is an emotional angle to these incidents. Some pull it out to show off. There is no solution to tackle this emotional aspect,” an official said. The police said that they conduct a thorough probe about the person who applies for a weapon licence.
