On Wednesday, three people were arrested at the Harni police station in Vadodara city, including two Mumbai residents, for allegedly attempting to illegally sell arms to a resident of the Bhavnagar district.
Police are still looking for three other people who were with the prospective buyer.
Two of the six — Dipen Makwana and Pramod Maru, both from Mumbai — arrived in Vadodara on Wednesday to sell a countrymade pistol as well as live cartridges to Chiman Gohil, a resident of Sihor village, according to police. Gohil was accompanied by Rafique Mistry, Basheer Dadhi, and Bab Koli while attempting to bargain a deal with Makwana and Maru near Golden Chowkdi when they were cornered.
Inspector SR Vekariya of Harni police station said, ‘We received a tip-off that some men were arriving with weapons for sale in Vadodara. As part of the additional vigilance in view of the upcoming Assembly polls, we laid a watch and caught three of the six persons from Golden Chowkdi. The accused were to strike a deal for about Rs 1 lakh for the country-made pistol and live cartridges.”
Vekariya said that Makwana is the prime accused in the case and is yet to reveal from where he purchased the pistol while Gohil, a resident of Bhavnagar district, is yet tor reveal his need to procure an illegal weapon. Mistry, Dadhi and Koli fled on spotting the police, Vekaria said.