Rathi’s rise from a small-time bootlegger in Rajasthan who supplied minor consignments to a few bootleggers in Gujarat, to growing into the ‘liquor king’ that he finally became, makes for a rather interesting story.
He is said to have a share in every single bottle of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) consumed in the state. Gujarat's liquor king Kailash Rathi, allegedly wanted in more than 300 bootlegging cases in the state, and who has been evading arrest by the Gujarat police since 1999, was nabbed by the crime branch on Wednesday.
Rathi’s rise from a small-time bootlegger in Rajasthan who supplied minor consignments to a few bootleggers in Gujarat, to growing into the ‘liquor king’ that he finally became, makes for a rather interesting story.
Rathi became the king of bootlegging immediately after the Rajasthan government came up with a new policy on liquor manufacturing.
According to this policy, which was implemented in 2003, liquor shops in Rajasthan came under the direct control of the state government, making it difficult for liquor manufacturers to smuggle the stuff into Gujarat.
Sources close to Rathi told DNA that after the new policy was implemented in Rajasthan, Rathi first came up with the idea of smuggling IMFL from Chandigarh and Haryana in large consignments to Gujarat.
"These consignments were almost double the size of his earlier consignments sent from Rajasthan, and he made crores by selling IMFL illegally to bootleggers in Gujarat," the source said.
Before Rathi, Rajasthan-based infamous bootlegger Dalpat Singh, wanted in many cases in Gujarat, was the liquor king and the sole supplier of IMFL to Gujarat.
"Once Dilip was arrested by the Gujarat police, he stopped the business, giving full scope to Rathi to grow," the source said.
By 2005, Rathi became the sole wholesale supplier of IMFL in the state.
"Every bootlegger in Gujarat purchased liquor from him," the source said. Rathi has a network of bootleggers in the state, with men in every district and his foot soldiers across the state.
Rathi was known to bribe the police. However, he was regularly declared the accused, in most liquor seizures in the state. "He started his illegal business by smuggling banned items like charas, and later shifted to IMFL. However, he attained enormous success in a remarkably short period of time," the source said.
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