The accused, Rohming Liama, who was arrested under the Arms Act, was refused bail a second time on Thursday by a local court. Sources said the accused has claimed that he had bought the 1020 rounds of rifle ammunition from the Manipur contingent so that his team can get adequate practise back home. Ballistic experts have told the cops that the ammunition was manufactured in Finland and was in all probability imported by NRAI. "However, the National Rifle Association of India (NRAI) clarified that it has not issued any .22 bore ammunition to Mizoram as they never had any participant in this category. The accused has no arms licence. Under such circumstances, we are verifying the claims,`` said DCP (crime) Ashok Chand.
Sources in the railways unit of crime branch said a team might soon be sent to Northeast India to talk to officials of both the shooting organizations. A separate team is also likely to visit the NRAI office and the Karni Singh shooting range to ascertain how many such rifle shots entered India and when. NRAI keeps track of all bullets used and their cooperation will help us track why so much ammunition changed hands.
A joint team of the RPF, GRP and crime branch had arrested Liama on Wednesday. "He was entering the platform but refused to keep his bag on the x-ray scanner despite security personnel's insistence. He also refused to hand over the bag," an officer said. The security personnel detained him and checked the bag.
The team had arrived in the capital on January 10 and competed in the event that took place from January 14 to January 24 at Karni Singh shooting range near Tughlaqabad. The team was taking the Rajdhani to Guwahati when the accused was nabbed.