Sikligars attack STF personnel near Dhamnod

Mhow: Illegal country made firearms manufacturers commonly called as sikligars attacked the team of Special Task Force (STF) in a village near Dhamnod in Dhar district on Saturday night. STF team had gone to nab the sikligars in Lalbaag village, about five kilometers from Dhamnod town on the directions of the senior police officials on Saturday.
Dhamnod police said on the complaint of sub inspector Santosh Kumar Pandey of STF Indore, a case has been registered against six sikligars who have been involved in illegal gun manufacturing and gun running for the past many years.
In his complaint, Pandey has stated that he, along with a team of five constables of STF reached Lalbag village to crack illegal weapons racket and to nab the persons involved in the business on Saturday late night.
As soon as they came out of the police vehicle, the sikligars, along with women and children of their families started pelting stones on them.
In reply , the STF team members held one sikligar from the pistol and the team also recovered a country made pistol and a cell phone from his possession.
Taking advantage of the darkness, the other sikligars fled from the spot. While the confrontation between the sikligars and the STF was going on, a team of Dhamnod police station also reached the village.
Meanwhile, three members of the STF team received serious injuries and were rushed to Dhamnod civil hospital, from where they were referred to MY hospital in Indore. Those police personnel who were injured in the incident were identified as Vishnu Yadav, Suresh Mandre and Manish Rathore.
A case has been registered against Chandra alias Salman, Malkhan Bahadur, Pratap Bahadur, Tara Singh, Rajmal, Term Singh and five other unidentified persons under sections 353, 147, 148, 149, 323, 333 and 186 of IPC along with section 25 of the Arms act.
The gangs of sikligars are active in many adjoining areas of Dhar, Khargone and Badwani districts. They make country made weapons by using simple tools and some of their products are made with such a perfection that they look like original weapons. They also carve "made in USA" or any other country to increase the cost of the weapons.
When Dhamnod police station in charge Dinesh Singh Chohan was contacted in this regard, he admitted about many such gangs in his area.