Woman pilgrim from Delhi held with loaded pistol at Vaishno Devi shrine

Jammu, Mar 18: A woman pilgrim from Delhi was arrested after a loaded pistol was recovered from her possession at the Mata Vaishno Devi shrine atop Trikuta hills in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, officials said on Tuesday.

Jyoti Gupta, who claimed to be a retired police constable, was intercepted with the weapon and six rounds at a checkpoint near the 'Bhawan' (sanctum sanctorum) on the intervening night of March 14-15, they said.

The licence for the gun found in the possession of Gupta was found to have expired a couple of years ago, the officials said.

Police have launched a probe after registering an FIR, they said.

In a similar incident, Sanjay Singh, a pilgrim from Uttar Pradesh, was booked after two cartridges were found in his bag near the Bhawan on Monday, the officials said.