Soha Ali's arms licence cancelled

Fri, May 9 01:05 AM

Gurgaon District Magistrate Rakesh Gupta on Thursday cancelled the arms licence issued to Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan in November 1996 at a time when she was underage and ineligible to own a firearm. Gupta held that Soha was guilty of suppression of material facts at the time of renewal of her licence and also that the rifle obtained against this licence was misused by her father, Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi, in the alleged blackbuck poaching case.

The weapon was seized when the poaching incident was uncovered and is with the Jhajjar Police. The consolation for the actress is that the DM did not hold her guilty for obtaining the arms licence (she was 18 years and one month old then) because the file containing her application and other documents has gone missing.

"Responsibility could not be fixed because the original file went missing. It is difficult to ascertain who was at fault and what documents were submitted in support of her age, whether she suppressed facts or it was a lapse on the part of the DM's office," Gupta said.

The DM, however, said he would write to the home department to take action against the Jhajjar police for not informing the Gurgaon administration in 2005 that the rifle listed against her licence had been misused. But, it was the actress's duty as well to inform that her rifle was in the custody of the Jhajjar police at the time of the renewal, the DM said.

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