Patna, Nov. 9: Bihar police are mulling to conduct “post-mortem” examination of all seized firearms stored as court exhibits in the malkhanas of police stations across the state.

Director-general of police (DGP) Abhayanand would seek an appointment with the Chief Justice of Patna High Court, Rekha M. Doshit, to seek permission to conduct “post-mortem” of seized illegal weapons, lying in malkhanas of the police stations. Ballistic experts would submit the reports after which the police would be able to dispose of the weapons.

“If the trial in murder cases can be conducted on the basis of autopsy reports, then what is wrong in conducting the “post-mortem” of seized firearms?” the DGP said, adding that photographs of the weapons that had been kept in the malkhanas as court exhibits would be preserved for trial.

Abhayanand, who had earlier been credited with introducing speedy trial of criminal cases to get offenders prosecuted, said the police had no right to destroy exhibits without the permission of the court. “We are thinking of seeking the court’s permission for conducting post-mortem of the seized weapons,” he added.

“There are weapons which are in bad shape. It is difficult for the police to keep such a large number of weapons in malkhanas in the same condition as they were seized several years ago,” said a police officer appointed as in-charge of a malkhana in Patna.

Sources said around 1.85 lakh illegal weapons had been seized in the state either in raids or in police encounters with criminals and Naxalites in the past decade. This is in addition to weapons seized when the police unearthed mini gun factories.

According to sources, statistics available at the state police headquarters suggested that 355 mini gun factories had been unearthed in the state in the past 10 years. Most of the factories were running in Nawada, Nalanda and Munger. Sources added that around 50,000 illegal weapons are manufactured in gun factories every year in the state. These weapons are supplied to different criminal gangs and Naxalite outfits operating in and outside the state. So far, 200 arms suppliers have been arrested in the state, which had spread their network to Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Punjab, Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.

In October, the state police had started the process of melting illegal weapons to manufacture farming tools and other public utility articles after seeking the court’s permission.

The process of melting seized weapons started from a police station in Darbhanga. Later, Muzaffarpur police melted six weapons at Musahari police station in the presence of the magistrate.