RAMPUR: A local court in Rampur has sentenced 24 security personnel including two from the CRPF to 10 years of imprisonment for supplying arms and ammunition to criminals, Naxalites and terrorists in 2010.
Special Judge EC Act Vijay Kumar held them guilty on Thursday and delivered the judgement on Friday. All 24 have been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 10,000.
Additional District Government Counsel Pratap Singh Maurya on Saturday told PTI that the main accused, Yashodanand, a retired sub-inspector of UP Police in Allahabad (Prayagraj), had died during the trial.
Vinod Paswan and Vinesh Kumar, both hawaldars in the Central Reserve Police Force, are among those convicted.
The other convicts were Nathiram, a constable, who was posted at Police Training College, Moradabad, constables Ram Kishan Shukla, Ramkripal, Sushil Kumar Mishra, Jitendra Kumar Singh, Rajesh Shahi, Amar Singh, Vansh Lal, Akhilesh Kumar Pandey, Amresh Mishra, Rajesh Kumar, Manish Rai, Vinod Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Singh, Rajya Pal Singh, Loknath, Banwari Lal, Akash, and Dileep Rai.
Three civilians, Dileep Rai, Akash, and Muralidhar Sharma, are among the convicts, the ADGP said. Fourteen of the accused persons were serving the UP Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary.
The ADGP said that all 24 were out on bail and had been taken into custody by the court for the judgement. They were sent to jail after the verdict.
According to Maurya, on April 10, 2010, the UP STF had arrested two CRPF hawaldar near the Jwala Nagar railway crossing under the Civil Lines Police Station area of the district and recovered an INSAS rifle, cartridges and some cash from them.
At their instance, the STF arrested Yashodanand, with Rs 1.75 lakh in his possession, Nathiram, and some armourers (an official in charge of the arms) of UP Police and PAC posted in various districts including Basti, Gonda, and Varanasi.
A case in the matter was booked by Amod Kumar of STF on April 29, 2010, after which Yashodanand, Vinod Paswan, and Vinesh Kumar were formally arrested.
After that, Nathiram was arrested from PTC Moradabad and a case was registered against him in Moradabad.
The rest of the persons were arrested on the basis of a diary recovered from Nathiram during the investigation.