Kingpin spills the beans on liquor smuggling to Guj
BACKGROUND OF 39-YR-OLD VIJU HOW LIQUOR WAS TRANSPORTED
LIQUOR RACKET Mastermind Viju, arrested by special operations group on May 2 from Udaipur, exposes details about illegal liquor trade thriving across four states
JAIPUR: The arrest of 39-year-old Vijay Kumar Sindhi alias Viju, a native of Vadodra district of Gujarat, has exposed one of the biggest chains of illegal liquor trade thriving across four states.
Viju, alleged kingpin of liquor racket, was arrested on May 2 from Udaipur by the special operations group (SOG) of Rajasthan police and handed over to Dungarpur police. Viju was kept in police remand for 13 days and sent to judicial custody on Thursday.
He revealed during interrogation the routes and networks of illicit liquor which he operated.
Dungarpur superintendent of police Shankar Dutt Sharma said Viju, to evade police and other enforcement agencies, adopted various ways to smuggle alcohol to Gujarat from Rajasthan, Haryana and Punjab. “Viju, who left his studies at the age of 13 confessed that he was smuggling liquor through agents who coordinated with the mafia in Haryana and Punjab to supply consignments of foreign and local brands to Gujarat.”
Vehicles carrying liquor were modified to hoodwink police and enforcement agencies. Police found that Viju used the trucks of Sai Transport Company registered on his father’s name, which has its branches in Punjab, Haryana and Gujarat. The trucks were loaded from various L-1s in Haryana. [L-1 is a licence given to wholesale and retail suppliers of foreign liquor.]
“Viju used to buy vehicles on finance through documents of innocent and poor people. He never used to contact these people directly but instead his punters used to lure them to get the document by offering handsome favours,” said Sharma.
Viju has six heavy vehicles in Ajmer, three in Jaipur, 12 in Gurgaon, which were used for liquor smuggling. One branch of Sai Transpot Company is in Yamunanagar district of Haryana, one in Dharuhera (Rewari), one in Jaipur, and one branch in Anand and Vadodra districts (Gujarat).
Truck drivers were paid three to four times more than the market rate. Viju used to provide truck drivers with fake bills, order invoices and other papers so that they could give officials a Viju is native of Vadodra district. At the age of 13, he left studies. In 2008, he started business of illicit liquor.
Three cases of attempt to murder are registered against Viju at police stations of Anand and Vadodra, Gujarat.
In 2009, Viju surrendered in front of Gujarat police. Two years later he was released.
69 cases of illicit liquor smuggling are registered against him across various police stations of Gujarat. Viju has collection of imported cars. He used to keep sharp shooter with him when he was not in jail.
On May 2, 2019 he was arrested by special operations group (SOG) in Udaipur. slip if they were stopped.
“The accused is very smart as his gang members used to escort the truck to different states and he used to monitor the location of trucks through GPS attached on the truck,” the SP said.
Whenever Viju’s consignment was caught, his men in the four states tried to free the truck. If his men were unable to do it, owners of the truck, who were unaware of the product delivered, used to get caught.
Police also came to know that 69 cases of liquor smuggling are registered against Viju in Gujarat. He was in touch with brokers who used to arrange liquor for him through L-1s.
During interrogation, Viju said he used to get most of stock from L-1 which had low retail. He told police that in Karnal and Yamunangar, the stock was filled in trucks from L-1 of Jogendra Sharma. In Bahadurgarh, the stock was filled from L-1 of Kailash Rathi, in Sonipat and Panipat, it was filled from L-1 of Raju Pehalwan. When asked further names in Punjab he said he doesn’t remember them.
Rajasthan was the transit point for Viju. People known to had built warehouses on the Rajasthan border to stock liquor.
“Viju’s relatives have wine shops in Shishod and Khajoori villages of Dungarpur. In Khajoori the wine shop is registered in the name of his wife Deepa Sindhi and in Shishod, the shop is registered in the name of his brother-in-law Ravi Sindhi from where liquor was supplied to Gujarat,” said Sharma.
Dungarpur police started chasing Viju after illegal liquor worth around Rs 2 crore was seized from a soap stone factory on December 8, 2017 which had been lying closed. Police seized 3 trucks, 4 motorcycles and a scooty in which foreign-brand liquor was found in 3000 cartons.
The factory belonged to Sunil Darji, Chirag Pancholi, Bharat Dangi and Man Singh, alleged partners of Viju. Dangi had its smuggling network spread in Udaipur and other districts on Gujarat border. Viju came in contact with Dangi in 2014.
Sharma said, “We are unfolding the chain one after another. So f ar 2 3 people have been arrested in this case and in past one year illicit liquor worth Rs 10 crore has been seized from the people involved in this chain.”
The 23 arrested have been identified as Rajendra Damor, Thana Meena from from Shishore Dungarpur, Suleman Jat from Ahmedabad, Mahendra Barot from Khera , Nikul Goswami from Mehsana, Gulam Mohammad from Bardoli, Prakash Kalal from Dungarpur, Mehmood Shaikh from Surat, Mukesh Gamit from Surat, Chirag Pancholi and Sunil Darzi from Sabarkantha, Bhagwati Meena, Ramlal Meena and Chainaram Dandi from Udaipur, Mangilal Raigar from Rajsamand, Man Singh Damor from Udaipur, Lakshman Meena from Dungarpur, Tusiram Meena from Udaipur, Bharat Dangand Indrajeet Singh from Sabarkantha, Mukhtiyar Ahmed from Vadodra and the kingpin Vijay Kumar Sindhi alias Viju.
MODUS OPERANDI
The driver of an empty truck parks the vehicle near a ‘dhaba’ (small restaurant) close to L-1, from where another driver would come and take the empty vehicle to L-1 asking the first driver to wait. The second driver would take the vehicle the L-1 where the truck gets loaded with liquor and then the second driver used to give back the loaded truck to the first driver so that he cannot find out from where the truck has been loaded. To hide liquor, the upper layer of the truck would be filled by vegetables or some other products.