NEW DELHI: The Special Cell of Delhi Police has nabbed four members of a self-proclaimed ‘Azad Group’, who were involved in the smuggling of illegal arms and ammunition across several parts of the country, an officials said on Thursday.
The accused, identified as Abhishek Bhardwaj, Hukum Dev, Aditya Tiwari and Tarun Chauhan, had created YouTube channel in the name of “azadgroupmunger”, Instagram Id in the name of “azadgroup011” and Facebook profile in the name of “Azadgroupmunger”.
According to the official, from these social media platforms, the gang-leader Abhishek Bhardwaj came in contact with his other associates and included them in his gang for running the racket. “The gang members were procuring illicit arms and ammunition from Munger, Bihar and Burhanpur, M.P and further selling them to their contacts based in Vishakhapatnam (A.P), Bhuvneshwar (Orrisa), Agartala (Tripura), Ranchi (Jharkhand) and Punjab for the last three years,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Pramod Kushwah said.
Notably, the accused Abhishek Bhardwaj was wheel-chair bound as in 2017 he was shot in the backbone. The bullet injury caused paralysis in his lower body, however, despite being bed-ridden he did not mend his ways and started operating his business of supplying of illicit arms and ammunition through YouTube, Instagram and Facebook.
The senior official said that they received an input on November 23 from ATS, Bihar that members of self styled “Azad Group” are active in supplying of illicit arms and ammunition in the national capital and neighbouring states.