The State Monitoring Cell (SMC) raided a godown in the Balapur Industrial Estate on the Morbi-Wankaner highway on Mar 19 and seized 61,152 bottles of foreign liquor worth ₹1.51 cr, along with goods and vehicles worth more than ₹2 cr.

This has been regarded as the biggest bust by the SMC to date.

The owner of this godown, the main bootlegger, has been identified as Jimit Patel, an Ahmedabad resident. SMC has arrested a total of 10 accused in this case.

Liquor godown in Morbi busted

Upon receiving a tipoff, police sub-inspector (PSI) HH Jadeja, along with his staff, raided the Shriram godown at around 9 p.m. and recovered liquor packed in about 3,450 boxes.

In addition, ₹2.5 lakh cash, ten mobile phones, seven vehicles, and other items were recovered, taking the total value of the seized goods to ₹2.20 cr.

Arrested individuals include godown manager Ramesh Pattani, two drivers, and seven labourers of the godown who were found present on the scene.

During their interrogation, SMC found that the godown was rented five months ago by Jimit, a notorious bootlegger himself. He rented this property for ₹90,000 per month and a deposit of ₹2 lakh.

The godown is found to be owned by Bhavanisinh Jadeja, a resident of Morbi’s Lalpar village.

Liquor supply nexus

The suppliers have been revealed to be Bharat Marwadi, Rajaram Marwadi, and Umesh Beniwal of Rajasthan.

This trio supplied two trucks every week with 2,000 to 3,000 boxes of liquor. This indicates a liquor nexus worth crores originating from this godown.

The liquor was mainly supplied to Chotila, Halvad, Morbi, and Wankaner, among a few other surrounding areas.

After unloading the liquor consignment and before supplying it, the manager used to cut open the boxes.

About 1,000 boxes had been cut open before the SMC raid. The seized consignment value would have splurged higher had these boxes not been opened before.

Modus operandi

SMC’s investigation revealed that the transport vehicle drivers loading liquor from the godown were stalled away from the site, keeping its location confidential.

Thereafter, the driver of the godown would take over the vehicle, load the liquor from the godown, and leave it at some place on the highway for the original driver to initiate the delivery.

SMC deputy superintendent of police (DySP) KT Kamariya rushed to the spot after the record-breaking seizure of liquor and took stock of the situation.

Before this raid, the largest quantity of liquor ever seized in the history of SMC was 1,300 boxes.

Despite the godown being operational for five months, the local Morbi taluka police did not have a hint, which raised several ears.

SMC is reportedly also investigating any links between this nexus and the Morbi taluka police. If no involvement of theirs is found, a probe may also reportedly be launched over negligence.

Also read:

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