The Pune Police in Maharashtra on Sunday said that criminal gangs in the city had been sourcing weapons from Umarti village in Madhya Pradesh, where officers recently busted a major inter-state illegal arms manufacturing and trafficking racket, reported the PTI.
In a large-scale operation carried out jointly with the Madhya Pradesh Police, authorities raided Umarti village in Barwani district, about 500 kilometres from Pune. They detained 36 people and seized a substantial cache of weapons. Police also destroyed 50 furnaces used for the illegal manufacture of firearms.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar told reporters that the force had decided 15 days earlier to dismantle places where pistols were being produced and factories supplying weapons to Pune and other parts of Maharashtra.
“We had information that people in Umarti were supporting illegal arms manufacturing, and there was a risk of retaliation. But we were fully prepared,” he said, according to the PTI.
Kumar added that the accused would face charges under the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) in various cases.
दमदार १०५!
अवैध शस्त्रप्रकरणी पुणे पोलिसांची मोठी कामगिरी!महिनाभर चालू असलेल्या आंतरराज्यीय तपासादरम्यान आज मध्यप्रदेशातील उमरती गावात टाकण्यात आलेल्या छाप्यात एकूण ४७ संशयितांना चौकशी कामी ताब्यात घेण्यात आले आहे.#InterstateOperation #OverAndBeyond #ForSaferPune
(१/२) pic.twitter.com/sMeqoTcElY
— पुणे शहर पोलीस (@PuneCityPolice) November 22, 2025
“Investigations have revealed that gangs operating in Pune procured weapons from Umarti, which is notorious for illegal arms production. It has also been established that the pistol used to kill gangster Sharad Mohol came from this village. Several Pune-based gangs are linked to the area, and action will be taken against them,” he said, the news agency reported.
He announced that police personnel involved in the operation would each receive a reward of Rs 10,000 for their efforts. A team of 105 officers from Pune, led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Somay Munde, took part in the raid, as per the PTI.
Over the past three weeks, Pune Police have seized 21 pistols. During the interrogation of recently arrested suspects, officers learned that the weapons had been sourced from Madhya Pradesh, prompting the crackdown. Earlier, Joint Commissioner of Police Ranjan Kumar Sharma described the network as “a supply chain of weapons”, adding that the search for others involved in the racket was ongoing.
(with PTI inputs)