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Bhola Kaushika came to Kota as a 17-year-old with a dream in his eyes to become an engineer. Instead, he became an outlaw.
In 2018, he found himself becoming an accused in a murder case. He was lodged in a juvenile home and came in contact with other hardened minors.
When he came out of the home, he pursued a life of crime and became a very busy arms supplier, catering to several criminals in Uttar Pradesh.
Bhola Kaushika, who also goes by the name of Bhola Pandit, now 23, was arrested on Tuesday by the Kota city police from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh.
His name came up last month, when a team led by Vigyan Nagar Police Station SHO Satish Chand arrested three youths in UP.
They were held in connection with a firing incident in Kota City and a knife stabbing in Baran district, Deputy Superintendent of Police Dharmveer Singh told PTI Friday.
The three were found to have between them one pistol, 11 live cartridges, one knife, and two motorbikes, all of which were seized, he said. During interrogation, one of them, 19-year-old Sohail Khan, a resident of Anantpura area in Kota, revealed that he had purchased the arms from UP-based Bhola Koushika alias Bhola Pandit.
On Tuesday, a police team was rushed to Mathura and arrested Bhola.
Over three days of remand, Bhola told the police that he had supplied around 45 country-made pistols and hundreds of cartridges to several people in Kota.
Raids are continuously being made to nab history sheeters and criminals who got arms from him, the DSP said.
Bhola had come to Kota in 2017 to prepare for IIT-JEE. He slogged for around two years, but had to drop out at the end of 2018, when he was detained with some other boys for murder of an old woman, the landlady of a house in Talwandi area in Kota city.
He was also wanted in a case at Jawahar Nagar Police Station and carried a reward of Rs 10,000 for information leading to his arrest.
He was booked in two FIRs in Mathura's Jamana Par Police Station.
Bhola's elder brother, Girish Pandit, is also reportedly engaged in arms dealing and supplying pistols to criminals in Kota. He is still at large, the officer said.