Noose tightens around oil, liquor, sand mafias’ neck

The adulterated oil was supplied to various industries in Chakan, Shikrapur, and Aurangabad MIDC

Noose tightens around oil, liquor, sand mafias' neck

Cops bust oil adulteration ring near Chakan

Ten days after the seizure of adulterated furnace oil near Chakan Industrial MIDC area, where 13 tankers were impounded on July 16, the Pune Rural police successfully traced the roots of the adulteration racket to a village named Vaki on the Pune-Nashik road.

The adulterated oil was supplied to various industries in Chakan, Shikrapur, and Aurangabad MIDC.

The police seized adulterated oil worth Rs 46 lakh and arrested two under the FDA Act and on charges of cheating.

At a godown run by Vishwas Gulabchand Bothra, the police found that furnace oil was mixed with LDL and water in equal ratio and added with a caustic soda-like powder to retain the density of the mixture for 48 hours. Bothra had allegedly built two storage tanks of 20,000 litres.

In a raid on Tuesday, the Chakan police seized nine tankers of which only two were filled with furnace oil.
The persons arrested were Dattatray Dharma Pingle and Dharmasaheb Gajarmal.

PI Sushil Kadam said, "We were monitoring the activities at Vaki village and after receiving a tip off raided the place."

In night raid, 36,000 litres of illegal country booze seized

In a late-night crackdown on illegal liquor dens across the river Indrayani near Chikhali, the Pune Rural police confiscated three tankers full of chemicals used for manufacturing country liquor.

The police seized 36,000 litres of country liquor worth more than Rs 4 lakh

The alco-haul: Illegally made liquor seized by the police

The police said they were closing in on the kingpin, whose arrest they were expecting to make soon for the illegal activity that was being carried out on a massive scale.

According to sources, villagers living in and around the area were aware of the large-scale illegal activity but did not dare to raise the matter with the police fearing retaliation from the person, who has many cases registered against him.

On Wednesday night, a patrolling party attached to the Dehuroad police station noticed three tankers parked on the Dehuroad-Chikhali road containing chemicals that gave off an unpleasant odour. When the message about this was transmitted via wireless, Superintendent of Police Sandip Karnik instructed officers attached to the three police stations of Dehuroad, Paud and Talegaon-Dabhade to act.

In the search operation conducted on the banks of the Indrayani, two illegal liquor dens were destroyed by the police.

Sources said that illegal country liquor stocks were emptied on the roads.

DYSP Vinayak Dakhane, PSI B D Mohandule, PSI R P Pawar, PSI S D Jadhav, R V Bhote, S S Shinde and 30-40 constables participated in the operation against liquor mafias operating in the areas around Chikhali.

"Our priority will be to arrest the person who was running these manufacturing dens," Dakhane said.

Shirur Tehsildar finds illegally excavated sand worth Rs 35 lakh

Officials of the Revenue Department raided the Chinchni area in Shirur taluka and seized 800 brass of sand illegally excavated from the Ghodnadi basin and stocked by unidentified
u00a0persons.

The revenue officials conducted the raid jointly with the police. The team was headed by Tehsildar Atul Mehatre and Assistant Police Inspector Jyotiram Gujwante.

"Permission was not given to anyone and hence the stock of excavated sand was illegal. The 800 brass of sand seized would be approximately worth Rs 35 lakh," Mehatre said. "The raid started on Wednesday afternoon, around 12.30 pm, when we got a tip-off about the illegal stock of sand and the action went on till late in the night."

The tehsildar said action would be taken against the guilty.

"Criminal cases will be registered or a fine will be collected from persons who own the land where the illegally excavated sand was stored," Mehatre said.

Zero tolerance
Reacting to the massive crackdown against illegal activities across the district, Superintendent of Police Sandip Karnik said, "The crackdown is a result of information coming from residents of Pune Rural. In addition to this, my officers are also going all out to curb the illegal activities. I have similarly instructed them to keep a constant watch so that these activities do not spring back. Our policy will be zero tolerance against anything illegal. In case of the Shirur raid on illegal sand mining, it was the initiative of the tehsildar and we only supported him."u00a0