Mira-Bhayandar: The recovery of duplicate liquor worth Rs 1.25 lakh from a small time bootlegger in Kashimira, helped the Thane unit of the state excise department in busting a major racket which was found to be operating from a tenement in Kongaon village of Bhiwandi district.
Acting on a tip-off, a team led by superintendent of excise (Thane district)-Pravin Tambe and deputy SP- Deshmukh under the guidance of excise commissioner-Dr. Rajesh Deshmukh caught a bootlegger identified as- Ramkesh Sitaram Gupta from the Penkarpada area of Kashimira on 1, April.
Gupta, who was found to be in possession of duplicate IMFL worth Rs1.25 lakh, revealed that he received the supply of illicit booze from a person every week and the next delivery was scheduled on 4, March.
As per information provided by Gupta, the excise officials laid a trap and intercepted a tempo near Chetan Wines in Mira Road. Upon checking the team found multiple cartons containing duplicate IMFL. T
he driver-Rahul Kate and the deliveryman-Ganesh Bandre were taken into custody, following which the excise officers learnt about the source of the illicit liquor consignment and the names of the racketeers.
The team immediately swopped down on a tenement in the Jambhulwadi area of Kongaon village and were shocked to find an organized racket of packaging illicit liquor in various brands of IMFL bottles being operated in the premises. While two more men including – Pappu Gupta and Nilesh Mhatre were arrested from the spot, the kingpin of the entire racket identified as-Rakesh Balaram Mhatre is still absconding.
The team seized bottles of liquor, empty bottles, counterfeit labels and other equipment/materials which were being used to replicate authentic packaging- collectively worth more than Rs 61.46 lakh. All the accused have been booked under the relevant sections of the Prohibition Act. Further investigations to ascertain the other potential buyers were on.
