Guwahati: A cache of arms and ammunition along with huge quantities of documents were recovered from one of the houses of country-wide auto theft gang kingpin Anil Chauhan, who has already been arrested.
“Last night, we conducted a raid at a house in Mirza area that was taken on rent by Chauhan. From there, we recovered arms such as pistols and some ammunition,” Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Amitabh Basumatary told PTI. “We have also recovered dozens of vehicle number plates, passport, bank passbooks, Aadhaar card and auto registration cards among others,” Basumatary said.
The police also recovered huge quantities of documents, most of which are forged, he said. He, however, said no further arrest has been made in the case yet. On April 3, Chauhan, the kingpin of a country-wide auto theft gang, arms dealing and smuggling of wildlife animals, was nabbed in Guwahati along with his accomplice Mamun Choudhury.
Congress MLA Rumi Nath was arrested two days ago in connection with a case related to her alleged links with the car-theft gang.
Meanwhile, Chauhan’s wife Rita today surrendered to Guwahati Police, said a senior police official.
“We are interrogating her at the moment. So far, we have not found any documentary evidence against her. It seems she surrendered out of fear after a Delhi Police team reached the city two days ago to interrogate Chauhan and enquired about Rita,” the official said on the condition of anonymity. However, it came to the fore that Rita had arranged Assam Assembly car passes for her husband on recommendation of her “good friend” Congress MLA Rumi Nath, who was arrested two days ago in connection with the case related to her alleged links with the car-theft gang. Nath was yesterday sent in judicial custody, a day after her arrest.
The CJM Court asked the jail authority to do a health checkup on April 17 and submit the report on that day as she was claiming to be unwell. After going through the report, the court will accordingly announce the future steps. Nath claimed that she had recommended the car passes to Rita, who is a Congress worker, and did not know Anil Chauhan. The MLA from Barkhola in Cachar district was arrested under sections 120(B) (criminal conspiracy), 212 (harbouring offender), 420 (cheating), and 468 (forgery) of the IPC, for her possible links with Anil Chauhan.
Earlier, the Gauhati High Court had rejected two interim anticipatory bail applications of Nath in connection with a case registered at Dispur police station and another at Azara police station.
On April 8, Nath’s estranged second husband Jacky Zakir was arrested from his house in Badarpur in Karimganj district, while her Personal Security Officer (PSO) Bedabrata Barpatra Gohain was also arrested from the Special Branch headquarters in the state capital. (PTI)
