JAIPUR: Sriganganagar police have uncovered a wider clandestine arms network following the interrogation of an alleged weapons supplier linked to gangster Rohit Godara. The probe has led to fresh arrests in Sikar and the detention of several suspects across Rajasthan.Police sources said questioning of Shakeel Ansari, arrested by Sriganganagar police on June 11, yielded crucial leads on procurement routes, financiers, couriers and recipients involved in supplying prohibited foreign-made firearms to organised crime groups in Rajasthan and neighbouring states.Investigators said the disclosures led police teams to Sikar, where multiple suspects were arrested four days ago. Several others are being questioned as police attempt to map the network’s full reach and identify those involved in sourcing, transporting and distributing illegal weapons.Ansari, considered a key associate of the Rohit Godara gang, was arrested after allegedly arriving in Sriganganagar to carry out a firing attack on a businessman. Police intercepted him while he was travelling on a motorcycle. During the operation, he allegedly opened fire on the police team and was injured in retaliatory action before being taken into custody.After receiving treatment at a district hospital, he was produced before a court and remanded to police custody. Investigators said his interrogation opened a trove of information about an arms supply chain operating across multiple states.According to police sources, Ansari allegedly procured and supplied banned Turkish-made Zigana pistols and other sophisticated firearms to gangsters and emerging criminal groups. Investigators suspect the network functioned through a layered system of handlers, safe houses and couriers to evade detection.Sources have not ruled out the possibility that the suspect may also have been involved in the conspiracy behind the murder of Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala.Police further learned that weapons were allegedly circulated among different criminal groups and moved between locations after offences to minimise the risk of recovery. The probe has revealed suspected links among gang operatives, arms suppliers and local facilitators across Rajasthan, Punjab, Haryana and Delhi.Sources said investigators are examining digital evidence, financial transactions and communication records recovered during the investigation. The focus has now shifted from a single accused to dismantling the larger ecosystem that enabled the movement of illegal firearms across state borders.“He regularly sourced illegal Austrian, German and Turkish weapons, costing around Rs 5-6 lakh each, supplied them to gangsters for specific hits, and later retrieved them for use in other crimes,” a police official said.
