Mirror has caught on camera a woman selling home-brewed liquor in broad daylight in Maninagar – the constituency of Chief Minister Narendra Modi – and a policeman appearing to be helping her evade detection by parking autos in front of her cart.
How am Conducted the Probe
At 5.45 pm, a police car stopped near the crossing, close to the spot where Vasu and her aide were selling home-brewed liquor from their cart, a tricycle.
A constable got down from the vehicle and approached the tricycle. Seeing him, Vasu and her aide started to walk away from the their tricycle. The policeman, in the meantime, stopped beside some autorickshaws parked near the spot.
In a baffling move, he started to push one of the autos towards Vasu’s cycle (see pictures on page 8). He parked the auto near the cycle and ordered a rickshaw driver to do the same. Before we could figure out the purpose of his actions, two autos ended up in front of the country liquor seller’s cycle, completely concealing it from public glare.
Why didn’t Cops Arrest the Woman?
Moments before the constable’s car arrived at the spot, Vasu sold hooch to at least five people. Whenever a customer arrived, she would ask her aide to bring a potli, as a pouch of country liquor is referred to locally, from their stock hidden in a pit 15 feet away from their tricycle. The aide, a young girl, would carry the pouch in her dupatta. Vasu would empty the pouch in a glass and give it to the customer.
Code Words for Toxic Sprew
INTERESTINGLY, VASU and her customers used the word nasto, a Gujarati word for snacks, as a code for home-brewed liquor. Moreover, she didn’t allow anyone to take a pouch of hooch with them. She would ask her clients to drink the toxic treat then and there. This apparently is a tactic to minimise the chances of detection by cops.
People living nearby, who are annoyed by Vasu’s presence and her shady trade, say she is not the only one selling country liquor. They claim hooch is sold at some shanties 100 feet away from the Maninagar railway crossing.
People running drinking dens at these shanties are supplied home-brewed liquor every day. These people, mostly women, start serving the spurious brew from early morning to late night.
When Mirror contacted JCP (sector II) Atul Karwal and told him about the constable’s alleged attempt to protect a hooch seller and existence of drinking dens near the crossing, he said: “We will shut down all such places. If the constable really tried to help the woman avoid detection, we will take stern action against him. An inquiry, too, will be ordered in the incident.”
Atul Karwal,
JCP (sector II)
JCP (sector II)
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Source: Times of India
