Main supplier of illegal firearms nabbed by Gujarat ATS

AHMEDABAD: In a joint operation by

Gujarat ATS

and

Jamnagar Police

, Balvirsinh Patva alias Balvant alias Ballu of

Madhya Pradesh

was caught on Wednesday late night. Ballu is the main supplier of firearms to Jayesh Ranpariya alias Jayesh Patel of Jamnagar. Ballu has confessed before the ATS investigators that he has supplied more than 100 small firearms in Gujarat.

According to ATS sources in 2019, Jayesh Patel had given a contract to Iqbal alias Bhathiya to kill Rajani Professor to extort ransom of Rs 1 crore. "It was Ballu who had supplied a pistol and five rounds of ammunition to Jayesh Patel to kill Rajani. Iqbal was arrested later on while Jayesh Patel is still on the run" said an ATS investigator.

DIG,

ATS Himanshu Shukla

said that they had a tip off that Ballus is based in Dhar of Madhya Pradesh.

"We made a joint team of Jamnagar's Special Operation Group (SOG) and ATS and the team was dispatched to Dhar district of Madhya Pardesh. We first surrounded his house as it was possible that he would retaliate and then asked him to surrender. Seeing his house surrendered by the cops, he surrendered before the joint team of ATS and

Jamnagar SOG

'' added Shukla.

ATS officials said that during his primary interrogation, he confessed before the investigators that till date he has supplied over 100 firearms in Gujarat and mainly to Jayesh Patel. "The accused said that he has supplied arms in

Rajkot city

, Ahmedabad city and Morbi town. Offences have been registered agaisnt him earlier also and was also held by Gujarat ATS before" said an investigator.

A Gujarat ATS official said while Patel was on the run, Ballu was in contact with him. "We are trying to track Patel along with Jamnagar Police," he added.