Ludhiana police book international shooter among two men for forging dope test reports for firearm licenses.

Ludhiana: A professional international shooter and a local driver have been charged with submitting forged dope test reports to obtain firearm licences, in a case that has raised concerns over gaps in Punjab's arms licensing system.

Police on Tuesday filed two FIRs (first-information reports) based on complaints from assistant commissioner of police (licensing) Rajesh Sharma, who flagged discrepancies in the drug test documents submitted by the applicants. The accused are Gurnihal Singh Garcha, a celebrated shooter from Model Town with international medals to his name, and Lalit Kumar, a driver-cum-security guard from Sahnewal Kalan's Suneyara Wala Mohalla.

ACP Sharma claimed that Lalit Kumar had submitted a dope test report purportedly from Ludhiana's civil hospital. "On examining the document, I found the stamps suspicious. When questioned, Lalit Kumar claimed to have taken only two tests, even though the official protocol requires six or seven. That was enough to suspect forgery," Sharma said. Authorities, later, confirmed through the hospital that Lalit Kumar had never undergone testing, and the report he had submitted, complete with fake stamps and signatures, was fabricated.

In a similar case, shooter Gurnihal Garcha — who clinched the silver medal in 2019's Doha Asian Championship and the bronze medal at Changwon's World Championship — submitted a forged dope report while applying for licence renewal. The civil hospital confirmed that the doctor listed on the document was on leave on the date of the supposed test.

Adding to the controversy, police said Garcha had been booked in 2020 previously after allegedly firing in the air to threaten his mother during a family dispute over setting up a fish farm. Even though his father, later, withdrew the complaint, the incident was recorded in police files. Both men — the shooter and the guard — have been charged under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including cheating, forgery, and using counterfeit documents, with FIRs registered at Division Number 5 police station.

Further investigation was in progress to identify those involved in producing the fake documents and stamps. This is not the first time authorities have uncovered such forgeries. In April last year, a lab technician, Parminder Singh, was suspended for accepting a ₹3,000 bribe to falsify a dope test report for an arms licence. A few months ago, realtor Charanjit Singh was charged with for furnishing a fake dope test report for the renewal of his firearm licence obtained from Raikot.

MSID:: 121140403 413 |