Two years after the country’s lightest revolver ‘Nidar’ was indigenously manufactured by the rifle factory Ishapore in West Bengal, an RTI enquiry has revealed that residents of Karnataka bought the highest number of the handguns, as per a report by Arvind Chauhan in The Times of India. 

The .22 caliber Nidar was launched in February 2016 and makers claimed to have sold 196 units out of the 200 manufactured by them. 

In an RTI reply cleared by Ordnance Factories Board (OFB), rifle factory Ishapore revealed that residents of Karnataka bought 37 Nidars followed by Union territory Chandigarh (30), Haryana (30), Delhi (16), West Bengal (16), Punjab (15) and Uttar Pradesh (12). 

Nidar is apparently the cheapest weapon in its category with a price tag of Rs 44,000 in retail and weighs just 250 grams. 

It was launched after Nirbheek, a .32 caliber revolver that was manufactured after the Nirbhaya gang rape case. 

A new alloy of aluminum named ‘DTD5124’ was developed by the makers of Nidar, which has negligible weight. This is what makes the revolver light and yet gives it supreme metal strength, thereby making it easy to fire. It is capable of firing eight rounds loaded in a revolving chamber, with an accuracy of up to seven meters and a barrel length of 40.33 mm.

As per officials, Nidar was introduced with the aim of arming office-goers as well as professional men and women, so that they could defend themselves from criminals in public.  

“The revolver is capable of firing eight rounds loaded in a revolving chamber against Nirbheek which has only six rounds’ capacity. Unlike the costly titanium alloy used in Nirbheek, for Nidar, a totally new alloy of aluminium called ‘DTD5124’ which is very light and has supreme metal strength was used. The weapon can be carried in a small purse handbag, pockets of trousers and jackets,” said Ishapore officials.