Gun licences of Hagawane brothers cancelled; CM says all firearm permits issued by Pune police will be reviewed

Pune: Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday said all gun licences the Pune police issued would be reviewed — the day the firearm licences issued in Nov 2022 to Hagawane brothers, arrested in the Vaishnavi Hagawane dowry death case, were cancelled."We cancelled these licences on the grounds of breach of conditions and will also take similar action against another co-accused, Nilesh Chavan, by following the due process," Pune commissioner of police (CP) Amitesh Kumar told TOI.Shashank Hagawane and his brother, Sushil, have been arrested with their parents and sister after Vaishnavi died by alleged suicide on May 16 in their house at Bhukum in Pune.Special inspector general of police (prisons) Jalindar Superkar, whose name surfaced in connection with the issuance of gun licences to the Hagawanes and was transferred on Friday, said he had only signed on the licence proposals after the same were cleared by the Pune top cop at that time. Amitabh Gupta, then Pune CP, told TOI that he had followed established processes.Fadnavis told reporters in Pune on Friday evening, "All gun licences issued by the Pune police will be reviewed. If any foul play is found in the paperwork to obtain these licences, the same will be cancelled."Separate cases of fraudulent representation by deceptive means to obtain firearm licence in 2022 were registered on Thursday at Warje and Kothrud police stations against Shashank and Sushil, after the police found that they had submitted misleading addresses to secure the licences.Supekar, posted as additional commissioner of police (administration) with the Pune police in 2022, is facing accusation of playing a role in securing gun licences for the Hagawane brothers and Chavan. Then Pune CP Gupta is now posted in Itanagar with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police.Supekar told TOI, "The then CP had taken the decision to issue firearm licences after receiving reports/recommendations from the in-charge of the police station/zonal deputy commissioner of police concerned. As an additional CP (admn), I executed the commissioner's decision by endorsing my signatures on the licences. I have no role to play in the matter."Gupta told TOI, "I don't have much to say apart from the fact that I have to go by the recommendations made by the field formation (police station concerned, to DCP office and CP office) and the final recommendation of my office before clearing the file."The present Pune CP, Amitesh Kumar, when asked about how the licences were issued, said, "It was the subjective decision of the then police commissioner. I do not wish to offer my comments on the issue."Kumar said, "We had issued show cause notices, asking the Hagawanes to explain why the licences should not be cancelled for breach of terms. We did not find their replies to these notices satisfactory and hence, decided to cancel the licencess."On the allegations of his relations with the Hagawanes and bid to influence the police probe in the Vaishnavi dowry death case, Supekar said, "The Hagwanes are distant relatives from my father's side. I have nothing to do with the alleged crime. The accusation made by some people that I have influenced the police probe and may help the accused in jail is false and baseless."He said, "I have no role to play in the day-to-day affairs of the jail administration because the state home department, in an order issued on May 29, has relieved me of holding the additional charge of the deputy inspector general (DIG) prisons of Pune, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and Nagpur."DCP (Zone III) Sambhaji Kadam told TOI on Friday, "The Pune police issued the firearm licence to Chavan on Jan 1, 2022, to Sushil on Nov 1, 2022, and Shashank on Nov 22, 2022 — all on self-protection grounds. We are now closely reviewing all the three matters after the registration of cases of fraudulent misrepresentation against Shashank and Sushil with the Warje and Kothrud police on Thursday.