Trouble Mounts For Lalu Yadav As Gwalior Court Issues Arrest Warrant Against Him in 26-year-old Arms Case

Former Bihar Chief Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav. (Image: PTI)

Inderganj police of Gwalior had declared Lalu Prasad Yadav absconding in April 1998. 23 accused including Lalu Prasad Yadav are involved in this case

The MP-MLA Court in Gwalior issued a permanent arrest warrant against former Bihar chief minister Lalu Yadav in a case related to the alleged illegal purchase of arms and ammunition in 1995-97. This warrant was issued on Friday in a 26-year-old Arms Act case.

Inderganj police of Gwalior had declared Lalu Prasad Yadav absconding in April 1998. 23 accused including Lalu Prasad Yadav are involved in this case.

What’s The 26-year-old Arms Act Case Against Lalu Yadav?

According to the chargesheet, Rajkumar Sharma, the operator of a firm in Mahoba, Uttar Pradesh, purchased arms and cartridges from three arms firms of Gwalior between 1995 and 1997 and took them to Bihar and sold them.

Lalu Prasad Yadav was also among those who bought these weapons in Bihar. Police believe he is the same Lalu Prasad Yadav, the former Chief Minister of Bihar. For this reason, this case is being heard in the MP-MLA court.

According to the information, the police filed a charge sheet in the court in July 1998. However, earlier in April 1998, the absconding panchnama of Lalu Prasad Yadav was prepared in which his father’s name was mentioned as Kundrika Singh. Whereas, the name of the father of former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav is Kundan Rai.

The police presented the challan and the list of absconding accused in the court. Only Lalu Prasad Yadav’s name is written on it, whereas his father’s name is not written.

Apart from this, the names of the remaining accused in this case along with their father’s name and even the city were mentioned. Confusion in the name of the father led to a delay in the pursuance of the case against Lalu Prasad.

The Fraudulent Purchase

The purchase of the below-mentioned arms and ammunition was done by making fake 16 forms. Gwalior resident Pravesh Kumar Chaturvedi (firm name – Prakash Arms Store) had filed a report at Inderganj police station.

It was reported that Rajkumar Sharma (Firm- Sharma Arms Store, Mahoba, UP) purchased arms and cartridges by making fake form number 16 of the firm and sold them in Bihar.

These weapons were fraudulently purchased

This fraud was committed between 23 August 1995 and 15 May 1997. Weapons and cartridges were purchased from a total of three firms. The total number of accused in this case is 23. Of these, the trial is going on against 6 of them. Two have died, while 15 are absconding.

The trial is still going on against Sunil Shukla, Kamalkant, Vishnu, Ravikant, Anil Kumar and Sunil Kumar.

Two accused Brijmohan and Surendra have died. Their death certificate has been submitted to the court.

Lalu Prasad Yadav, Shashikant, Murarilal Sharma, JP Yadav, Musa Mia, Mohan Soni, Upendra, Ranjit Kumar, Kanhaiyalal, Krishnanand, Shravan Kumar Sharma, Janardan Sharma, Badal, Sujit is absconding in this case of fake arms buying and selling.