Youth held with country-made pistol and two live cartridges near Alephata in Junnar

A team of the Local Crime Branch (LCB) caught a youth red-handed on suspicion of possessing an illegal country-made pistol in the Alephata area of Junnar taluka. In the action on Santwadi Road, a pistol (gavthi katta) and two live cartridges were seized. A case has been registered at Alephata police station.

The suspect has been identified as Rushikesh Ganesh Padekar (26), a resident of Santwadi in Junnar taluka. Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill had directed the LCB to take stringent action against illegal arms in the district. Under that order, the LCB team was patrolling the Junnar sub-division.

During the patrol, the team received secret information that a youth on the Alephata-Santwadi road was carrying an illegal country-made pistol. On receiving the tip-off, the police immediately laid a trap and detained Rushikesh. He was then searched in the presence of panch witnesses, and a country-made pistol and two live cartridges were found on him.

The LCB seized the entire cache of illegal arms on the spot. The accused, Rushikesh Padekar, has been handed over to Alephata police station for further investigation. Assistant Sub-Inspector Deepak Sable lodged the complaint in the case, and Alephata police are now investigating.

The action was carried out under the guidance of Pune Rural Superintendent of Police Sandip Singh Gill, Additional Superintendent of Police Shubham Kumar and Sub-Divisional Police Officer Dhananjay Patil. It was executed by a team of LCB Police Inspectors Pramod Kshirsagar and Vishwas Jadhav, Assistant Police Inspector Mahadev Shelar and Assistant Sub-Inspector Deepak Sable.

The team included Police Constables (head constables) Sandip Ware, Raju Momin, Amit Malunje, Pankaj Parkhe and Vinod Gaikwad. Police Constables Akshay Navale, Abhimanyu Mote and Omkar Khune also took part.