BHOPAL: While Indore, the commercial capital of Madhya Pradesh, is battling the rising coronavirus cases and deaths, the bootleggers in the city have found a new way of selling country made and Indian made foreign liquor in the city.
With the liquor shops being closed for the past 20 days, some licensed liquor contractors operating vends are using e-commerce payment systems, including Paytm to supply both kinds of liquor to customers.
Importantly, the customers getting the booze from the men working for licensed liquor contractors are not only using the liquor for their own consumption but are selling them at higher prices to tipplers ready to pay anything for quenching their thirst for their favourite booze.
Acting on a tip-off, the Indore police crime branch laid a trap and busted two liquor dens operating from vends which were sealed by excise department from outside, but operating from the backdoor bars and godown in Pardeshipura and Aerodrome police station areas.
Importantly, both these vends were located in the vicinity of the COVID-19 containment zones.
“We’ve so far arrested 11 men in connection with the bootlegging and booked two liquor contractors who are on the run,” additional SP (ASP-Crime Indore) Rajesh Dandotiya said.
Both the places were raided by the Crime Branch and concerned police station teams on Thursday night. The sleuths also seized country made and foreign liquor worth around Rs 15 lakh and the vehicles used for carrying the booze stealthily.
Similar action is likely to be initiated by the Crime Branch against other such bootleggers in the coming days. “We’ve also got inputs about cigarettes and pan masala being sold in black and will soon initiate similar action against those indulging in such activities,” said Dandotiya.
Importantly, Indore has turned into one of the prime COVID-19 hotspots in the country with 842 positive cases and 47 deaths so far. The city has been divided into 11 zones and 160 COVID-19 containment areas.