A semi-automatic rifle and a few liquor bottles were recovered from the premises of a government school falling under the jurisdiction of Maner police station on Thursday.
Police said some morning walkers found a .315 bore rifle and several empty liquor bottles lying scattered on the campus of Sant Gagan Baba High School in Rambad village early on Thursday. They immediately informed the police, who rushed to the spot and seized the weapon. "At first glance it looked like an AK-47 assault rifle. However, on close scrutiny it turned out to be a .315 bore," Maner police station house officer (SHO) Sanjay Kumar Singh said.
Nobody has turned up yet to claim the firearm. "We will send detailed information to the ordinance factory to ascertain the name of the owner of the seized weapon," the SHO said, adding that neither school students nor teachers were present when the weapon was recovered.
Schoolteachers, including the principal, refused comment. "Please don't drag the school into this controversy. We have nothing to do with the seized weapon. The school doesn't have a boundary wall. So it is open to tresspassers," a teacher, who lives in Patna and commutes to the school everyday, told The Telegraph .
Preliminary investigation suggests the weapon belonged to the Fauzi gang, which operates in areas falling under Patna and Bhojpur districts. Fauzi, a native of Ara in Bhojpur district, recently purchased two AK-47 rifles, for Rs 3.5 lakh each, from a Jharkhand-based Maoist outfit. A source said the gang was provided semi-automatic rifles of .315 bore, which look like AK-47s. The sand mafia active in Maner-Digha area of Patna rural reportedly sounded the police about the gang securing new weapons. A police team from Patna did a recce of houses, looking for the recently purchased weapons. Apprehending trouble, the gang dumped one weapon inside the school campus.
"It seems members of the gang had last month indulged in indiscriminate firing at the village to terrorise a rival group. The Fauzi gang sharpshooters were reportedly looking for Arshad Khan and Sipahi, who had allegedly tipped off the police leading to Fauzi's arrest from Maner in 2014," an investigating officer said. Fauzi has been released on bail only recently.
Sources said that such an automatic weapon had been recovered from a school for the first time in the state. "Police have recovered weapons from criminal or Maoist hideouts. But this is perhaps the first time that a regular weapon has been seized from any school," a senior police officer said.
The Maner SHO said a station diary (informatory complaint) has been lodged in connection with the weapon seizure. "Since the weapon was found abandoned, there is no need to register a case under Arms Act," he said.
He admitted a war of attrition was on between Fauzi and the sand mining mafia in the diara belt (riverine areas) for long. Violent clashes were reported between the two groups in Suarmarwa and Chaupari diara belt.
During an encounter last year, a police team led by Patna senior superintendent of police (SSP) Manu Maharaaj had recovered a cache of sophisticated weapons, including AK-47 assault rifles, from the sand mining mafia, allegedly patronised by one Sanjay Singh of Digha.
Police said raids have been intensified to nab Fauzi, who was released from jail only recently. Fauzi is said to be close to a JDU lawmaker in Bhojpur. Over a dozen cases of Arms Act besides those of murder and extortion were pending against him in different police stations of Patna and Bhojpur, an investigating officer said.
