Chennai: Police personnel attached to the Organised Crime Intelligence Unit (OCIU) on Tuesday night rounded up a quartet found to be in possession of a pistol with seven rounds, which they had planned to sell.
The four accused have been identified as A. Gopinath, 25 of Vyasarpadi, Murugan, 52, of Anna Nagar, L. Kumar, 25. and Prakash, 32, of Madhuranthagam.
Police sources said that the accused didn’t have any previous criminal cases against them.
They were picked up from a lodge in Triplicane. “One of the police officers had posed as a probable customer and nabbed them. The deal was to buy the 7.65 mm pistol with them for '3.5 lakh,” a police officer said.
Police said that the price was initially quoted '5 lakh and after negotiations, a meeting was set up in Chennai with L. Kumar (25). Kumar and three of his friends were put up at a lodge on Wallajah road at, Triplicane. The police officer had also come with his team in mufti. After the deal was fixed, police team rounded up the four men, according to the sources. The accused were detained at Triplicane police station.
Investigations revealed that they had sourced the gun from another person, named Arjun. Efforts are on to trace the supplier of the gun, police said.
