Gun License Scam: Vigilance after several bureaucrats in multiple districts

Srinagar: Even as the state awaits nod for CBI to take over the investigation in the gun licenses scandal, the vigilance organisation has zeroed in on nearly 70 officers for their alleged links to the case.
Sources in the establishment said the anti-graft body has collected data from various districts including Srinagar, Rajouri, Baramulla, Kupwara, and Udhampur to investigate the role of officers and officials in the multi-crore scam.
They said nearly twenty thousand licenses have been issued in Kupwara district only.
Sources maintained that the laid down procedure has been violated in issuing the licenses possibly in league with the gun-manufacturing companies.
The KNS has learnt from the sources that primarily the investigation was ordered for two districts of Kupwara and Udampur. However, as the investigation progressed, links to more districts were discovered following which the investigation was extended to many other districts also.
The Vigilance organisation is understood to have collected data from Rajouri, Baramulla, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama and other districts, where the instances of issuing the licenses by violating the procedure have come to fore.
Even Additional Deputy Commissioners, who are authorised to issue the licenses, have been found to have violated the rules.
Sources privy to the investigation said that in some districts, Additional Deputy Commissioners have also issued licenses.
The previous government had decided to handover the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and had formally written to the probe agency but their acceptance has not come as of now.
Sources said that the decision of handing over the case to CBI was taken as many senior bureaucrats were allegedly attempting to shield some deputy commissioners and officers involved in the scam.
The other reason for handing over the case to the central investigating agency was, as per sources, that many IAS officers were allegedly involved in the scam and government wanted to keep the investigation out of any possible hurdles.
However, according to sources, soon after the fall of the PDP-BJP government, the bureaucratic lobby has again gone active and has revived its efforts to stall the investigations.