Fake liquor factory busted in Gujarat's Kutch; 10,000 bottles of IMFL brand seized
Days after a hooch tragedy claimed 13 lives in Gujarat's Bhavnagar, police have unearthed a fake liquor factory in Kutch district and seized nearly 10,000 empty and filled bottles of a popular IMFL brand, officials said.
Police have detained three persons in this connection, they said.
Gujarat is a 'dry' state, where the manufacture, sale and consumption of alcohol is banned.
Thirteen persons have died in the state's Bhavnagar district due to consumption of spurious liquor packed in bottles carrying the label of a popular Indian-made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) brand. Police have arrested 27 persons so far in the case.
On the operation in Kutch, Inspector General of Police, Border Range, Chirag Koradiya said, "Around 9,400 empty bottles and 600 filled with 180 ml liquor were seized along with 600 litres of chemicals from a makeshift factory at Adipur in the district."
"We have detained two accused. Further action is underway," the official said on Tuesday.
The accused have been identified as Hitesh Bamaniya, a resident of Mumbai, and Vijendra Jat, who is from Mathura in Uttar Pradesh, he added.
In the Bhavnagar incident, 67 persons had consumed the liquor containing methanol, a highly toxic substance, packed in bottles bearing the name of a popular IMFL brand, according to officials.
The Gujarat Police's State Monitoring Cell (SMC), a special unit that tracks state-wide illicit liquor and gambling operations, is carrying out a multi-state investigation in the hooch tragedy.
It is investigating the source of methanol and other chemicals, the transporters involved, and all those linked to procuring and moving raw materials used in manufacturing spurious liquor.
