The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is close to taking a final call on the Central Bureau of Investigation’s request to prosecute eight IAS officers allegedly linked to the multi-crore gun licence scam in Jammu and Kashmir.
The development came to light during a hearing before a division bench of the Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh High Court, where government counsel stated that the matter is now in its final stages of examination.
Deputy Solicitor General of India (DSGI) Vishal Sharma informed the bench—comprising Chief Justice Arun Palli and Justice Rajnesh Oswal—that both the J&K administration and the CBI had responded to the clarifications sought by the MHA in late September and mid-October.
With all required inputs now submitted, the Ministry is “actively considering” the sanction request and is expected to make a decision soon. At his request, the bench adjourned the hearing to December 30.
How the Controversy Unfolded
The gun licence scam first surfaced when investigators detected unusually high numbers of arms licences being issued across multiple districts of the erstwhile state between 2012 and 2016.
What began as routine scrutiny gradually revealed glaring irregularities in the manner in which licences were approved.
As evidence accumulated, the CBI uncovered a network involving district magistrates, deputy commissioners, middlemen and arms dealers.
Officers allegedly issued licences in exchange for monetary benefits, with agencies later estimating the scam’s value at over ₹100 crore.
A staggering 2.74 lakh gun licences were issued during this period—many to persons who neither resided in J&K nor were posted in the districts where the permits were granted.
The alleged violations spanned several districts, including Kathua, Udhampur, Rajouri, Baramulla, Pulwama, Leh and Kargil.
The Officers Under Scrutiny
Among those named in the CBI’s request for prosecution sanction are eight IAS officers who served as District Magistrates during the years in question. These include:
- P. K. Pole
- M. Raju
- Yasha Mudgal
- Jitendra Kumar Singh
- Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary
- Niraj Kumar
- Prasanna Ramaswamy G.
- Ramesh Kumar
The CBI alleges that these officials approved licences without due diligence and , in some cases, in collusion with dealers and intermediaries.
Under the Prevention of Corruption Act, prosecution of IAS officers requires formal sanction from the central government—making the MHA’s decision pivotal.
Legal Developments and Pending Decisions
While the J&K government has already granted sanction to prosecute Kashmir Administrative Service (KAS) officers and lower-level employees implicated in the case—leading to chargesheets against more than a dozen officials—sanction requests about IAS officers have remained pending for years.
According to the petitioners’ counsel, Sheikh Shakeel Ahmad, as many as nine IAS officers and over 15 JKAS officers are allegedly connected to the racket, alongside clerical staff, intermediaries and gun dealers.
In 2021, the administration cleared the way for prosecuting KAS officers, resulting in significant progress against middlemen and gun dealers as well.
The MHA had also granted permission to prosecute one IAS officer last year, leaving others awaiting a decision.
The High Court, monitoring the case through a Public Interest Litigation, has repeatedly sought updates on why action against top officers has been delayed, leading to intensified scrutiny of the MHA’s role.
With the Ministry now nearing a decision, the case appears poised for a breakthrough that could determine the course of accountability in one of the largest arms-licensing scandals in India’s recent history.
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