Chennai: Constable Kumar of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on guard duty at the Raj Bhavan is on the run after the state police found him involved in trafficking of dangerous weapons, including guns and grenades, according to reliable sources here.
They said CRPF Constable Kumar, in his 40s, posted for guard duty at the Raj Bhavan just three months ago, has gone missing after the police swooped on his house following the confession by a dacoit that the pistol he had used in a recent armed robbery at Madurai was supplied by the cop.
“The police investigating the armed robbery at the house of one Bhaskaran in Melur near Madurai managed to nab one of the culprits called Ganapathy, who told them he got his pistol from one Ramesh. The robbers had brandished the gun and robbed the inmates of the house of '5 lakh and fled. When Ramesh was caught and grilled, he admitted getting the weapon from Kumar working as a CRPF constable at Raj Bhavan. By the time the police rushed to the Raj Bhavan to get Kumar, he had vanished. But we are confident of securing him soon”, said an officer, requesting anonymity.
“The shocking detail is that Kumar was hiring out weapons he illegally possessed to such dacoits to carry out their robberies by threatening their victims. Once the job was done, Kumar would get back the weapon along with a hefty cut from the valuables robbed”, the officer explained.
Ramesh had actually told the police interrogators that he took back the pistol from Ganapathy after the Melur dacoity and handed it over to Kumar's wife living at Thirumangalam near Madurai. When the cops grilled the woman, she sobbed saying she was innocent and had merely carried out the instructions of her
husband to hand over a bag to his aunt living in Madurai.
And here comes the story's climax: when the police retrieved the bag and opened it, they got the shock of their lives as it contained not only the pistol used by Ganapathy but also a few grenades and AK-47 ammunition.
Special police teams have been formed to track down Kumar, a 2005 recruit in CRPF, and also check on the possibilities of his having Maoist links.
“Before his posting in the Raj Bhavan here, Kumar was serving in the CRPF battalion engaged in anti-Naxal operations in Jharkhand. He might have procured the pistol and other weapons from there for carrying out his deadly business of hiring out arms for criminals”, said the officer, adding, “He is not eligible for pistol at the Raj Bhavan duty, where he only has the usual service rifle”.
