Sleuths demolish illicit liquor dens

This is the second major swoop-down on illicit liquor dens in the city during the last fortnight. Earlier on April 27, a 25-member State Excise Department team had raided over a dozen illicit liquor dens along a stream near the crematorium at Bavdhan.

The State Excise Department sleuths had demolished several underground storage tanks during the raid. However, the bootleggers had allegedly reconstructed the tanks.

On a tip off, a 15 member police team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police Ramrao Pawar, Assistant Commissioner of Police P N Ingale and Inspector Vishwas Chaugule raided the same dens again early on Wednesday morning.

The police had virtually cordoned off the entire area. However, the bootleggers succeeded in making good their escape while taking advantage of the darkness and the chaos that ensued.

During the four hour long operation, the police demolished the underground storage tanks and seized chemicals and equipment, estimated to be worth over Rs 48,000, which were being used to brew illicit liquor. Several hundred litres of illicit liquor was thrown away.

Within 12 hours of the operation, the same team swooped down on five illicit liquor dens which had flourished along the Mutha Right Bank Canal at Dhobarwadi near Ghorpadi. The bootleggers had constructed underground tanks to store chemicals there too. It took almost six hours to demolish the tanks.

Four persons were arrested and a large quantity of chemicals as well as equipment used to distill illicit liquor were seized during the raid. The seizure included 315 litres of illicit liquor, 42,000 litres of chemicals and 915 kgs of black jaggery.

Several persons distilling liquor succeeded in escaping. Gurunath G Katenu, Yamanappa G Banjegi, Irappa T Hirekaru and Birju M Basappa were arrested. Preliminary investigations have revealed that the quadruple, which hails from Karnataka, had migrated to Pune in search of jobs five to six year ago.