Mumbai: Man peddling gutkha ‘abducted, robbed’; two held

The police said the men forced Vishwakarma to drive towards Kurar and stop at an isolated spot in Appapada where they took away his consignment of gutkha and left him there. “The accused fled with the complainant’s car. Some time later, he spotted the car parked in Kurar and decided to file an complaint,” said an officer.

On Monday, the police arrested two of the three men and recovered 40 packets of stolen gutkha. “The complainant had been illegally picking up packets of gutkha from Bhayander and supplying them to various parts in Mumbai,” said the officer.

The police have written to the Maharashtra Food and Drugs Authority and handed over the seized gutkha to them. Sale, manufacture and storage of gutkha, pan masala and other forms of chewing tobacco were banned in Maharashtra in 2012.