A'BAD: Gujarat is a ‘dry’ state, but a section of the state police certainly isn’t. Take a look at Bharuch district of south Gujarat and Aravalli district in the north of the state. Four police constables face action for their involvement in liquor smuggling.
In Bharuch, two cops were suspended on Thursday on suspicion that they were snooping on the technical surveillance team of the state’s monitoring cell formed to act against the bootleggers. The suspects shared the real-time location of the officers with the liquor mafia involved in sourcing hooch from Madhya Pradesh and other states -- for a price.
Sources said officers of the monitoring team were getting exasperated about why their raids were proving futile. An investigation unraveled the entire scandal, said an officer. Bharuch SP Leena Patil has suspended the two cops -- Mayur and Ashok.
Sources said a further inquiry could reveal the role of other cops in the case. Gujarat’s State Monitoring Cell (SMC) is headed by a superintendent of police. It works directly under the DGP and has powers to conduct raids on bootleggers or liquor dens.
Sources said the mobile numbers of SMC’s 15 officers were tracked and their movements were collected. These were shared at least 600 times with bootleggers in Bharuch. In another incident, in the state’s northern Aravalli district, two constables were arrested on Thursday for allegedly smuggling liquor.
The police said Himatnagar Local Crime Branch intercepted a vehicle that had no registration plate. The search led to a huge amount of Indian-made foreign liquor. The main accused in the case are Rohitsinh Chauhan and Vijay Parmar, both posted at the Aravalli police headquarters.