Gujarat Police to have new prohibition squad to tackle bootlegging

They will be mobile and work on a case-to-case basis in different cities and districts,he added. The squad will become functional from October,the DGP added.

The squad has been carved out of the team of officers appointed to the Vigilance Commission after the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad.

Hasmukh Patel,the then DIG of Police Modernisation was appointed DIG Vigilance and supervising officer of the team. He had further appointed two inspectors for investigations.

Patel said: “Earlier,the team was appointed only to look into the investigation of hooch cases where additional duties were given to the officers. Now,the police department has decided to form a special squad,taking some officers from that team and some new appointees to form a dedicated force to work on prohibition cases. The team will only work on special cases and the police stations will continue to look into routine cases. But if the DGP feels that a particular police station cannot handle a particular case,then the squad will be put on the job.”

The squad constitutes a DIG,inspectors,sub-inspectors and constables. The DGP has also planned to rope in an ADGP to strengthen the team.

Khandwawala said the appointment of an ADGP and some others is on the anvil. The squad will function independently on prohibition cases,directly under the DGP.

He added the squad will have a separate identity and will not function under the Excise Department,which was looking into prohibition cases after the state government disbanded the Prohibition Department.

The state government had formed a Prohibition Department in 1996 during the tenure of Shankersingh Vaghela. It was dismantled in 2006.

RMS Brar,the last state Prohibition Commissioner,expressed the hope that the squad will be of great help.

He said: “Vaghela felt that the police department at that time was overburdened and the investigation of prohibition cases was suffering. He formed a special Prohibition Department under the state government that had the powers of registering,prosecuting and taking legal actions in prohibition matters. This is,however,a new concept — a wing under the police department that would probably only conduct raids and investigate cases.”