9 bootleggers held, huge hoard of liquor seized from godown in Ghaziabad

Nine people were arrested for alleged bootlegging and a liquor godown was sealed here on Delhi-Meerut Road in the early hours of Sunday amid the ongoing nationwide lockdown, police said.

A joint team of the Uttar Pradesh Crime Branch and Sihani Gate police station intercepted a car on the road in the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday and recovered 48 liquor bottles from the vehicle that led to the sealing of the godown nearby where it was illegally bought, Senior Superintendent of Police Kalanidhi Naithani told PTI.

After the liquor carton was seized, the bootlegger identified as Deepak told the police that he purchased the whisky bottles at exorbitant rates from a godown in Krishna Nagar Colony located on the Delhi-Meerut Road.

Following the tip-off, police reached the godown and caught eight people who were selling liquor to tipplers despite lockdown restrictions. They seized 105 (250 ml) bottles from their possession, the SSP said.

The arrested men were identified as Vishal, Vaibhav, Rajiv, Munna, Santosh, Shivnath, Narayan and Kaloo Ram.

Licensee Harsharn Gupta, Shushma Zindal, Saurabh Gupta and godown manager Deepak Sharma are on the run, he said.

The godown containing 4,289 cartons of beer and 478 cartons of whisky have been sealed in the presence of a magistrate.

A case was registered against them under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Excise Act. Besides, Section 56 of the Disaster Management Act and Section 3 of the Epidemic Act, 1897 have also been invoked against the accused, SSP Naithani added.