Launching swift action, multiple teams of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday carried out searches at 40 locations, including residential premises of two IAS officials, in Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi in connection with its probe into an alleged illegal arms license case. A CBI spokesperson in Delhi said that around 20 gun houses are also being searched.

An agency source revealed that the CBI is carrying out searches at premises of former Deputy Commissioner Srinagar, Shahid Iqbal Choudhary, and another IAS official Neeraj Kumar, among others. The CBI had registered a case on the consent of Jammu and Kashmir government and further notification from the central government in 2018, and taken over probe from the state police that during the period between 2012 and 2016, the district magistrates of various districts of J&K, including Kupwara, had fraudulently and illegally issued bulk arms licenses in lieu of a monetary consideration.