Click to play videoChandigarh: A CNN-IBN Special Investigation on Thursday night exposed a racket of bulletproof cars and jackets that seriously compromised national security.
The racket involved businessmen in Punjab who are illegally supplying bulletproof metals to gangsters and mafia dons.
The expose has led to the arrest of one such businessman, Sandeep Sobti, who owns Laggar Industries in Punjab but has also raised many questions.
Are criminal elements in politics taking advantage of the law, which at present is vague on the manufacture and sale of bulletproof gear?
Sandeep Sobti had admitted on hidden camera that his customers included gangsters like Munna Bajrangi and even politicians with criminal records such as Mukhtar Ansari and his late rival Krishnanand Rai.
Despite all this Sobti insists he has done nothing wrong and that the exposure is nothing but a drama.
"For me. Krishnanand Rai is a respectable MLA. Jaiswal is an MP," insists Sobti.
However, what Sobti has been doing is definitely against the law.
This is what the Union Home Ministry guidelines say:
- Bulletproof vehicles and jackets are only meant for security forces and individuals under genuine threat.
- They are not supposed to be supplied to terrorists, criminals and anti-social elements.
But a law to enforce these guidelines is not in place and Sandeep Sobti, it seems, took complete advantage of this loophole.
"There is no law, but I still keep the Intelligence agencies informed," says Sobti.
Legal experts say such access to sensitive bulletproof protective gear is a clear threat to national security.
Says Supreme Court lawyer R K Anand, "If the media can reach Sobti, why not the Home Ministry? There is a total laxity on the part of the Home Ministry."
(With inputs from Rohit Khanna in New Delhi)
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