The Crime branch raided a home and detained some 22 men and 19 women, all from well-known families in the town for consumption of alcohol.
The high profile crime branch of the city police, once known for several fake encounters and also for solving difficult cases carried out a rather unlikely operation for its profile, raising many a questions.
The Crime branch raided a home off CG Road and detained some 22 men and 19 women, all from well-known families in the town for consumption of alcohol. More interesting was the fact that the Crime branch held a press conference to announce it - a practice usually done in case of arrests of dreaded criminals and terrorists. The cops then made some clumsy attempts to hide identity of the rich and the powerful and showed arrest of only the host.
Attendees included members of the family of a prominent builder, son of a former chief minister, son of the owner of a Gujarati newspaper, son of a well-known lawyer and an owner of several colleges in the city. Interestingly, while only the owner of the house was arrested, the remaining 22 men and 19 women attending the party were sent for blood test. The arrest shocked the well-heeled.
Police officials claimed that among those detained was Amam Shah, the son of Shreyansh Shah, owner of Gujarat Samachar. Police, however, said they were yet to "confirm" his identity. Police did not give out the names of most others who were detained.
"We are yet to confirm how many of them were drunk and so cannot reveal the names," said a police official.
The party was busted after a cop living in an apartment opposite the building complained to the local police of loud music being played at the house of Harsh Shah, off CG Road.
Sources said, initially a PSI had gone to stop the party at around 4 in the afternoon, but the revellers did not pay heed to him. Following this, the PSI informed the crime branch which raided the party.
The crime branch recovered 8 empty bottles of IMFL, while 23 other liquor bottles were also found in the venue. This included 14 beer cans, 3 vodka, 2 martini and 4 whiskey bottles.
The value of the seized liquor is believed to be around Rs25,000. Sources said after the crime branch raided the party, the revellers threatened them of dire consequences if they dared to book them.
Paresh Solanki, PI, crime branch, said that the king-queen themed party was being held to celebrate Shah's marriage anniversary.
"He had invited his friends over to the party. The men were in one room while the women were in a different one. All the revelers had the ceremonial robes worn over their clothes to go with the party," said Solanki.
Himanshu Shukla, DCP, Detection of Crime Branch said, "From the initial breath analyser test, it seems that the women were not drunk."
However, all of them have been sent for a blood test at civil hospital. He said the police will also look at how many people among the revellers had a liquor permit.
"Shah has been arrested because of the number of liquor bottles found from his home," Shukla said.
Meanwhile, the detainees have been taken to the civil hospital at Asarva for blood test. Incidentally, the cops have cordoned off the whole hospital premises, which was swarming with police personnel.
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