Varanasi: Lanka police busted an illegal arms manufacturing racket in Shivaji Nagar Colony of Samne Ghat area late on Saturday and arrested two people, including the father of one of the three accused, who shot at a police constable on Friday. The trio were later arrested in two separate encounters the same night.ACP Kashi Zone Vaibhav Bangar said that after constable Amit Shukla was shot at on Friday evening and the three accused — Anjani Nandan Jha, Raj Vishwakarma and Raju Tiwari — were arrested in separate encounters, Lanka police began tracing their links. Call detail records, interrogation, informer inputs, CCTV footage, cyber inputs and surveillance helped the team reach Jha’s childhood friend, Aman Kumar Mishra, 22, a native of Deoria who is currently living in Dafi.During questioning, Aman revealed that Jha had earlier helped him deliver illegal weapons and cartridges and handle payments. Acting on his information, police raided Jha’s rented house in Shivaji Nagar Colony, where his father Vimal Kant Jha (55), was present.A search of the house led to the recovery of three country-made .32-bore pistols, 143 live cartridges, 24 empty shells, 19 semi-finished pistols, unfinished magazines and equipment and material allegedly used to manufacture firearms. These included welding machines, grinders, drill machines, calipers, gas cylinders, torches, metal parts and barrels.Police booked Aman and Vimal under relevant provisions of the Arms Act and initiated further legal proceedings.Police said Vimal told investigators that Anjani was addicted to drugs and associated with people of questionable background. He allegedly allowed Anjani and his associates to store and manufacture weapons at the house and later assisted them in the operation for financial gain.The wider supply network is being verified on the basis of evidence collected so far, police said.
