7 lakh litres of liquor, ₹7.5 cr cash seized in pre-poll vigil

As part of its vigil against the illegal supply of liquor and money in the wake of the upcoming assembly elections, the state police had in five months ending October 31 seized more than 7 lakh litres of alcohol, 115 quintals of drugs, more than 3,000 firearms, while ~7.5 crore in cash have been seized since the model code of conduct came into force on October 6, as per data released by the police department.

“We are following all the instructions of the election commission. As precautionary measures, we are putting up barricades and conducting search operations at unexpected places, and tracking people with past criminal records and anyone involved in drug smuggling for information,” said special director general of police, law and order, NRK Reddy.

“Liquor and other spurious items can be used to purchase votes. Certain groups may go all out to lure voters through liquor and drugs, which is why it is necessary to control them,” Reddy added.

Following the election commission’s order for people holding licenced firearms to surrender their weapons until November 12, the department recorded

JAIPUR:

receiving 1,32, 713 of the 1,79, 827 licenced weapons at its police stations across the state. 210 firearms were recovered from the capital city of Jaipur.

Issuing licence for arms is prohibited during the period commencing with the date of announcement of elections. This ban remains until the completion of the election as notified by the election commission.

The police have also seized 3.38 lakh tablets of antidepressants Alprazolam and Tramadol — with nearly 32% tablets seized from Sri Gangangar city alone.

“Two constituencies, Sadulshahar and Gangangar, come under the limits of my circle area and both are infamous for over expenditure during elections. Voters, especially youngsters, are very prone to these tablets as they are very cheap,” said Mridul Kachawa, assistant superintendent of police, Sri Ganganagar (rural).

MORE LIQUOR SEIZED

On Tuesday, 975 cartons of illegal liquor were seized from Harmara and Chomu (5 cartons) regions in the city, police said.