Mumba: Further tightening the screws on the illicit liquor trade in the twin-city, official from the excise department (C-Division), Thane raided a bootleg den which was found to be serving illicitly brewed (haath-bhatti) liquor in the coastal area of Uttan near Bhayandar on Tuesday.
Acting on a tip-off, excise officials in association with their counterparts from the flying surveillance team (FST) led by senior inspector- Ashok Desle under the instructions of excise superintendent- Nilesh Sangade raided the den and arrested 12 people including the owner identified as-Glen Hendriks along with eleven tipplers who were found to be consuming the illicit liquor.
They were booked under sections 68 (opening of common drinking house) and 84 (found drunk in any drinking house) of the Bombay Prohibition Act, 1949. The team comprising-sub inspectors-Ratnakar Shinde, Ramesh Kolthe, assistant sub inspector-Vandana Ware, personnel-Rajesh Taaru, Pravin Nangre and Madhu Rathod also seized plastic jerry cans containing 45 litres of illicit liquor worth more than Rs.12,000 from the spot.
The accused confessed to their crime after they were produced before the court leading to their conviction on Wednesday. As punishment, the owner was slapped with a fine amounting Rs.25,000 and the tipplers were asked to pay a penalty of Rs.500 each.
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Senior inspector- Ashok Desle is conducting further investigations to ascertain the source of the illicit liquor. Ever since the model code of conduct came into force from 16, March for the Lok Sabha elections, the excise department has teamed up with special squads from the election commission (EC) to crack the whip on the illegal flow of liquor in Thane district.
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