Frequent recovery of fake arms licences from security guards of private security agencies in the state capital has one thing in common — police in Udhampur district, Jammu and Kashmir, had allegedly issued them.

Those caught during investigation said they had allegedly procured their licences from the same district, indicating an inter-state nexus. The police in the state capital at present do not have much clue about the matter.

Rajinder Singh, the additional deputy commissioner of Udhampur, said: “The matter had come before us when a police team from Patna came to the district around four months ago for investigation.”

He added: “Though I cannot shed much light on the matter at present, a team from Patna was in Udhampur to verify the licences of the arms seized there. Records were shown to the team and it was found that the administration here didn’t issue the licences.”

Since November 2011, police investigations detected at least four armed guards of various private security agencies carrying weapons against fake licences, all issued from Udhampur.

The latest arrest was on March 21, 2011, when the cops caught one Lalit Kumar, an armed guard of a Patna-based security service provider, who was found holding a fake licence for his weapon. This time too, the license was issued from Udhampur district.

Sashi Shekhar Sharma, a resident of Naubatpur, was nabbed on the same day. The police raided his home and found a pistol and a single-barrel rifle. The licence recovered was fake and procured from Udhampur.

Following these catches, former Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Alok Kumar had directed all private security agencies operating in the district to submit a list of their armed security personnel so that the licences of their weapons could be checked.

In November, 2011, then Patna city superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande had issued a similar order after the cops caught three security guards, all gunmen, employed with agencies for keeping illegal arms against fake licences issued from Udhampur.

“All three men hailed from Naxalite-hit areas. Amit Kumar, one of them, was from the Dulhin Bazaar area of Patna rural. He was posted as an armed guard at another Patna-based security agency. The other two men hailed from Jehanabad district and Masaurhi area of Patna. Though nothing concrete can be said as of now but this might have got something to do with the arms licensing process in Udhampur,” an officer told The Telegraph on condition of anonymity.