The Dudhwa tiger reserve poaching case in which golfer Jyoti Randhawa was arrested back in December has highlighted the misuse of sports quota gun licence and the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau has formed a “working group” to investigate this trend, the Indian Express reported on Monday.
Randhawa, who spent 50 days in jail before getting bail in the case, is also a national level shooter was arrested after skin of a wild boar, range finders, binoculars and a gun registered in his name were seized from his vehicle.
“It is evident there is some kind of misuse taking place. We will seek details from the relevant authorities and proceed with our investigation,” Tilotama Varma, additional director, WCCB, was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
The licence under sports quota allows top shooters can import up to seven weapons arms and ammunition duty-free — four related to the event and three others — and 15,000 cartridges of ammunition per year duty free. However, there have been instances of these shooters selling the ammunition or arms in the market.
A Department of Revenue Intelligence official also told the newspaper that that the barrel mounted on the gun found in Randhawa’s car belonged to national-level shooter Dilip Ayachi.
“Jyoti wanted to check the precision of my barrel so he requested to borrow it. As is the norm, I took an undertaking from him, which says he will use it only at a registered shooting range in the country,” Ayachi was quoted as saying.
The National Rifle Association of India, which is the governing body of the sport in the country, said they were cooperating with the investigating agencies.
“There are a few bad apples but that doesn’t mean the entire system is rotten. We are likely to suspend Randhawa’s NRAI membership, as was the case with (Prashant) Bishnoi who has been blacklisted. But we have to wait for the court’s verdict,” the official told the newspaper.
