Confiscated weapons: MPs of all shades,taints lined up to buy

While the Arminious and Erma revolvers were a hit during the early 1990s,Webly revolvers replaced them in the late 1990s. However,the last decade saw .22 bore revolvers and 7.65 mm Walther pistols being preferred.

Mayawati bought an Arminious revolver in February 1991 for Rs 4,900 while Dwivedi bought 0.32 bore S&W revolver for Rs 1.45 lakh in the second half of the last decade. Former MP Atiq Ahmed,facing trial in 35 criminal cases,spent the highest amount to buy a rifle ‘Rugger M-77 Mark-II 30.66 mm’ at Rs 3.15 lakh.

Kalmadi bought a Webly revolver in 1995 for Rs 9,150 while Shahabuddin procured a S&W revolver in 2001 for Rs 43,507. Babubhai Katara,also facing allegations,procured a Webley revolver in 2000 for Rs 59,215. BJP MP Ashok Argal and the partys Faggan Singh Kulaste,both accused in the cash-for-vote scam,also bought weapons on successive days.

Among the Union ministers,Jayanthi Natarajan,Preneet Kaur and M Vincent Pala figure in the list.