Subsidised guns for MPs with criminal record

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Subsidised guns for MPs with criminal record
LUCKNOW: An analysis of the number of guns sold to members of parliament (MPs) shows that between 2001 and 2012, around 82 MPs purchased guns from the government, of which 18 have pending criminal cases against them. The analysis done by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) was released on Thursday. It is based on the data provided by the government to Ambrish Pandey under Right to Information.

Of the total 82 MPs who were sold guns between 2001-2012, highest 27 were from the Uttar Pradeh (UP) followed by six each from Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan, five each from Odisha and Karnataka, four each from Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, three from Gujrat, two each from Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Delhi and Bihar and one each were from Meghalaya, Manipur, Sikkim Uttrakhand and Daman and Diu.

Significantly, out of 18 MPs who have criminal cases in police record, and bought guns between 2001 to 2012, highest (10) are from UP. These MPs are Atiq Ahmed, Rakesh Sachan, Afzal Ansari, Brajesh Pathak, Kapil Muni, Rakesh Pandey, RK Singh Patel, Dharam Raj Singh, S Saiduzzaman and Yashvir Singh. While MPs with two criminal cases each were from Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Odisha and one each from Maharashtra and Daman and Diu.

The 27 MPs, which includes 10 with criminal cases, from UP are from all the major political parties. Those without criminal cases are Babban Rajbhar, Pyarelal Sankhwar, Pyarelal Sankhwar, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, Rajnarain Budholia, Lal Chand, Ashok Kumar Rawat, Kirti Vardhan Singh, Mahender Prasad Nishad, Rajesh Kumar Mishra, Rampal Singh, Shaffikurrahman Burk, Shailendra Kumar, Mithlesh Kumar, Salim Ansari, Shyamlal and Bhai Lal Kol.

Further, amongst the 82 MPs who have been allotted guns from the government, Atiq Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh has 44 criminal cases including charges of murder, attempt to murder etc, followed by Abu Asim Azmi from Maharashtra and Rakesh Sachan from Uttar Pradesh with 7 cases each. These guns were seized by the customs and sold to MPs and VIPs on a first come first served basis. Earlier, guns were sold below market price but price was hiked recently.

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