The kingpin of the bootlegging trade Rathi is behind bars, so will it be a 'dry' Christmas and New Year for the many consumers of alcohol in the city?
The kingpin of the bootlegging trade Kailash Rathi is behind bars, so will it be a 'dry' Christmas and New Year for the many consumers of alcohol in the city?
By no means! In fact, sources in the flourishing illegal business claim that they have already stocked up enough bottles to meet the rising demand. Indeed some of them have already started supplying the seasons's stock to their regular customers - a good week before the festivities actually begin.
What's more, sources close to the city's leading bootleggers say, this time they are expecting the demand to be almost double that of last year and so, hundreds of crates are currently lying in farmhouses, fields, godowns and other hideaways in and on the periphery of Ahmedabad.
"Normally, the amount of liquor that 20 trucks can carry at a time is what is needed for regular, off-season, demand. This time, some 35 trucks - each vehicle holds 500 crates (a crate contains a dozen bottles) have already entered the city and their stuff has been safely stacked away," a person who plays a key role in the business said.
The reason why the bottles are already in place is because police tend to commence search raids a few days before the actual season begins. "With the job of supplying customers already on in full earnest, last-minute raids won't hurt us that much," a bootlegger claims.
The chief spots where this large amount of booze is hidden are Sanand, Ognaj, Nadiad, Mehamdabad, Pithapur (near Gandhinagar), Bopal, Sabarmati, and in open land off the SG Highway.
The claims of bootleggers have been confirmed by police personnel in the know, who naturally did not wish to be named. In the meanwhile, the cops are assembling their resources in an effort to spoil the party.
Chitranjan Singh, Director General of Police, Gujarat, has issued instructions to the Ahmedabad City Police, the Vigilance Team, the Crime Branch - and the police force in general - to 'seek and search' in a bid to strictly enforce the prohibition policy of the state.
But with bootleggers having prepared well in advance, the upholders of the law have a tough ask again of them.
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