Two liquor contractors arrested in Katni

The Katni police on Tuesday night arrested two liquor contractors accused of not surrendering their stock with the excise department after their licences were cancelled.

The Katni police on Tuesday night arrested two liquor contractors accused of not surrendering their stock with the excise department after their licences were cancelled.

Liquor contractors were arrested for not surrendering their stock with the excise department after their licences were cancelled. (Pic for representation)

Katni superintendent of police Gaurav Tiwari told HT that Ballan Tiwari and Pushpendra Singh were arrested from Jabalpur’s Panchalsheel colony. He said the excise department cancelled the licences after their demand drafts along with their bids for sale of liquor in financial year 2016-17 were not encashed by the bank.

In July, the police conducted raids at various places in the district to track the illegal storage of liquor, and seized a stock of country-made liquor stored in bulk, which amounted to over ₹17 lakh. During their investigation, the police learnt the liquor belonged to Ballan Tiwari and Singh, who instead of surrendering their stock to the excise department, had dumped it at various places, the SP said.

Five cases were registered against the accused liquor contractors at the Sleemanabad police station of the district. They were booked under Sections 109, 420 of IPC and Section 34(2), 41 and 42 of Excise Act.

The liquor contractors had been at large and the police was in search of them for last five months.

The police will now seek their remand from the lower court for interrogation.

The Lokayukta and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) are also conducting probes into the demand drafts which were not encashed.