Ballari: Court convicts MLA Somashekhara Reddy for possessing revolver after license expiry

Team Udayavani, Nov 2, 2022, 4:31 PM IST

Ballari: Ballari City MLA G Somashekhara Reddy has been convicted by the Special Magistrate Court for the trial of cases against MLAs and MPs for unlawful possession of a revolver after the expiry of license.

Although convicted, he is not sentenced to a minimum punishment of one year under the Arms Act but released under the Probation of Offenders (PO) Act for a period of one year along with certain conditions.

As per the conditions, he shall execute a personnel bond for a sum of Rs. 50,000 with one surety for the like sum for good behaviour. He shall not be carrying out any criminal activity. He shall maintain peace and good behaviour in and around his locality. He will not be able to travel abroad without prior permission from the court. He shall be under the supervision of the court for one year.

He shall appear before the court once in three months for the next one year and file an affidavit of non-violation of the conditions. The benefit of the PO Act will be automatically cancelled if the prescribed conditions are violated.

The court noted that the offence committed by Reddy was not grave when compared to other offences under the Arms Act.

Earlier, in the year 2013, Reddy a criminal case was filed against Somashekhara Reddy by the then deputy commissioner of Ballari. The case was on not depositing a licensed .32 N.P bore revolver even after the expiry of license on December 31, 2009.

It was alleged that he had continued to have the revolver in his possession between January 1, 2010, and November 9, 2011, instead of handing over the weapons to the concerned authority or renewing the license.

Countering to the allegations, Reddy had contended that he could not renew the license due to work pressure and that his license was lost during the renovation of his house.

Taking a note of this, the court had said that he is an elected representative and holds a responsible post.

He cannot afford to be careless while dealing with a weapon and that he could have lodged a complaint regarding the loss of the license, the court said.

(With inputs from media)