GUJARAT: The State police seized a large stock of illegal liquor from a warehouse in Mahisagar district on Sunday. The State Monitoring Cell arrested seven people. Two juveniles were booked.
Police named 16 others as wanted in the case.
Police Sub-Inspector J.S. Rajput led the operation. His team raided warehouses at Plot Nos. I-1 and I-3 in the GIDC area of Balasinor. The action came on orders from the Director General of Police, G.S. Malik.
He had directed officers across Gujarat to step up action against illegal liquor and gambling.
Officers seized 41,600 bottles and tins of Indian-made foreign liquor.
The stock is valued at Rs 1,56,81,120 (RMRM669,000).
Police also found three vehicles worth Rs 28.30 lakh. They seized eight mobile phones worth Rs 96,000 and cash amounting to Rs 17,730.
Officers also found 150 bags of cattle feed worth Rs 3,750. Police say these bags were used to hide the liquor stock.
The total value of everything seized comes to Rs 1,86,24,850.
Police registered a case at Balasinor Police Station. The charges fall under the Gujarat Prohibition Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023.
The FIR names seven arrested men, two juveniles, and 16 wanted accused.
Police identified the arrested men as Satendrapal Jadav from Auraiya district in Uttar Pradesh, Sahil Panchal from Rohtak district in Haryana, and Mit Shukla from Balasinor in Mahisagar district.
Three more accused are from Himmatpura in Vadodara district. They are Ranvirsinh Parmar, Vipulkumar Parmar, and Nilkumar Rathod.
The seventh man, Ranjitsingh Rajput, lives in Ahmedabad. He originally hails from Madhya Pradesh.
Police named Manish Mehra as the main accused. They say he procured the liquor consignment.
His alleged associates include Pintukumar, also known as Jijaji Bhoi, and Kanji, also known as Kanho Parmar.
Investigators also named Jayanti Thakor. Police say he rented the warehouse and kept watch for police movement.
Other wanted names include Kiritsinh Parmar, Vishnusinh Tomar, Rakeshsingh Jat, and Shyamji Chaudhary. Several labourers who allegedly unloaded the consignment are also named.
Police say the warehouse owner is wanted too. So are the owners of an Eicher tempo, a Maruti Eeco vehicle, and an Activa scooter. The person who issued the consignment note from Odhav in Ahmedabad has also been named.
Police say three of the accused have prior records under the Prohibition Act. These are main accused Manish Mehra, wanted accused Kanji alias Kanho Parmar, and arrested accused Satendrapal Jadav. - The Statesman/ANN
