NEW DELHI: Homemade firearms - 'Katta' - have long featured strongly in Indian criminology.
Earlier, the weapon had shorter range, but now gangs indulging in illegal activities have modified country-made firearms such that they can give maximum firepower and effective range.
Delhi Police investigators claimed they recently saw a spike in the sale of such modified guns.
Police sources told Millennium Post that the demand for such modified Katta has increased not just in rural areas of the country, but also in the outskirts of the national Capital.
"The gangs are now adding barrel in the Katta, so that the range increases. With the modification, it can easily hit an object of 80-90 metres afar; whereas without any change, the shooting range of a pistol is around 20-25 metres," said a police source.
The increased demand is coming from rural parts of the Capital and Baghpat, Meerut from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh.
"In urban areas, most shooting cases happen from close range. In rural areas, we have seen a trend of shooting from long distance and also these modified weapons have been used to show supremacy in the area," an investigator disclosed.
Recently, a team of Anti Auto Theft Squad (AATS), Dwarka – formed under supervision of ACP (Operations) Aditya Gautam and led by Inspector Raj Kumar – busted a gang from UP involved in supplying illegal arms of different calibres in Delhi-NCR.
"The gang members were illiterate but they had skills in modifying katta," said a police officer.
The accused would make the barrel with a fine quality of iron rod, after which they cut the rod and drill it in such a way that it can be attached easily.
The cost incurred on manufacturing one improvised pistol was about Rs 1,200. Pistols were manufactured in three sizes and sold at Rs 8,000 for small, Rs 10,000 for medium and Rs 14,000 for large size. The price may go up to Rs 15,000 per piece, depending on the urgency of the customer.
According to NCRB data, around 686 cases of such illegal activities were reported in Delhi last year. Around 765 unlicensed country-made arms were seized.