In a major development, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday filed two separate chargesheets against 15 accused, including two bureaucrats, in a case related to the issuance of gun licences to ineligible persons in violation of rules during the 2012-2016 period, an official said.

The chargesheets against the accused were filed in the court of special judge, CBI cases, Srinagar, a spokesperson for the CBI said.

The official said the first chargesheet was filed against 10 persons, including the then Kupwara district magistrate Itrat Hussain Rafiqi and four gun house dealers and middlemen, while the then additional district magistrate Ravinder Kumar Bhat and four others, including gun house dealers and middlemen, were named in the second chargesheet.

The case was registered in 2018 at the request of the then J&K government. Later, a notification of the Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, was issued transferring to the CBI the investigation of the FIR registered on 17 May 2018 in Vigilance Organisation Kashmir (VOK).

The matter pertains to the issuance of a large number of arms licences to ineligible persons without due process during the period from 2012 to 2016.

The spokesperson said one of the chargesheets was filed under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code, Prevention of Corruption Act and Arms Act against 10 accused, including the then Kupwara DM, while another chargesheet was filed under similar sections against the then Kupwara ADM and four others in the case.

“Investigation disclosed the nexus of the Licensing Authority (District Magistrate) with middlemen and other gun house dealers. In furtherance of the criminal conspiracy, the gun house dealers lured the defence personnel posted at faraway places in the country and got their arms licence issued from district Kupwara in an illegal manner, despite those personnel neither being resident of the state nor posted in the district, without police verification.

“The alleged illegal gratification per licence was sought and collected by the gun house dealers and middlemen,” the spokesperson said.

The official said the issuance of a large number of arms licences in a border district like Kupwara in an illegal manner to ineligible persons is a matter of grave concern and poses a serious threat to law and order and public safety.