Five Held With Illegal Liquor Worth ₹55 Lakh In Indore

Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Police arrested five people and seized illegal liquor worth about Rs 55 lakh being transported in a truck and a car during the ongoing "Nashe Se Doori Hai Zaroori 2.0" campaign against drugs and illegal liquor, police said on Saturday.

DCP (Zone-2) Aman Singh Rathore said that acting on a tip-off, a team led by Kanadiya police station in-charge Saharsh Yadav intercepted a truck near HR Resort on the Bypass Road and arrested Akash Ahirwar and Rahul Namdev, residents of Hatod. During the search, officers found 912 boxes containing beer and other brands of liquor. The accused failed to produce any valid licence for transporting the liquor, following which a case was registered under the Excise Act.

During questioning, the accused revealed the names of three more people allegedly involved in transporting the liquor. Based on the information, police arrested Vijay Vaishnav, Deepanshu Sonone and Nitesh Prajapati near Chinar Hills on the Rau Bypass Road on Saturday. They were found carrying another 15 boxes of illegal liquor in a car.

In total, police seized over 11,000 litres of liquor worth around Rs 55 lakh, along with the truck valued at about Rs 50 lakh and the car worth about Rs 5 lakh. The total value of the seized property is estimated at Rs 1.10 crore. Police said further investigation is underway to identify others involved in the alleged liquor smuggling network. Some of the arrested accused also have previous criminal cases registered against them.