A tip-off led Mumbai Crime Branch's Property Cell to intercept the 28-year-old near a railway station with a country-made pistol stuffed in his backpack.
A tip-off is what did it. Mumbai Crime Branch's Property Cell had word that someone would show up in Cotton Green to sell a firearm, and on Monday evening, that's exactly what happened.
The accused, identified as Nandlal Muneshwar Prajapati, 28, from Ambedkar Nagar in Uttar Pradesh, was spotted walking out of Cotton Green railway station around 6.45 pm carrying a black backpack. Police had a description from their informer. Once the informer confirmed it was him, the team moved in, with two independent panch witnesses along for the search, as procedure demands.
What came out of that backpack: a country-made pistol, silver in colour, stamped "32 BORE BARETTA," with a matching silver magazine and a brown grip. Police value the weapon at roughly Rs 40,000. Prajapati reportedly had no licence for it.
A further search turned up more than just the gun. An extra empty magazine. Fourteen live cartridges marked "HPM 25 35," worth around Rs 7,000 by police estimate. An Aadhaar card. A Union Bank ATM card. A state transport bus ticket from Panvel to Dadar, dated the same day. Rs 350 in cash. A Poco phone, priced at about Rs 5,000.
Everything got packed, sealed and seized in front of the panch witnesses, the way it's supposed to go by the book.
Kalachowki Police Station has booked Prajapati under Sections 3 and 25 of the Arms Act, along with Sections 37(1) and 135 of the Maharashtra Police Act. The case also draws on the Mumbai Police Commissioner's prohibitory order from August 24 this year, which bars carrying weapons in public without authorisation.
He's under arrest right now, and the real work for investigators is just starting. Where did the pistol come from? Who was he meeting to sell it to? And why was he carrying an ATM card, an Aadhaar card and a bus ticket that traces a route from Panvel to Dadar on the very day he was picked up?
None of that's answered yet. Police say the source of the firearm and ammunition, and what Prajapati actually intended to do with them, remain under investigation. For now, it's an arrest and a seizure, not a solved case, and the Arms Act charges against him are allegations he'll have to answer to in court.
Cotton Green isn't unfamiliar territory for the Property Cell, but a country-made Baretta knockoff with 14 rounds inside a backpack is the kind of find that tends to open up more questions than it closes. Whether this traces back to a bigger supply chain of illegal weapons moving through Maharashtra is what the next stretch of the probe will have to establish.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.