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Two businessmen running illegal gutkha factory in Silvassa arrested
In a major breakthrough, crime branch officials attached to unit IV have arrested two businessmen who ran an illegal gutkha manufacturing facility in Silvassa, in connection with the ₹15 crore illegal Gutkha seizure case
In a major breakthrough, crime branch officials attached to unit IV have arrested two businessmen who ran an illegal gutkha manufacturing facility in Silvassa, in connection with the ₹15 crore illegal Gutkha seizure case.
The arrested have been identified as Abhishekh Surendra Chhajed (31), and Sharan Surendra Chhajed (26), both residents of Green acres in Lokhandwala complex in Mumbai.
The duo was produced before a Pune court which remanded them to judicial custody. According to the crime branch officials, the duo had taken up land owned by another Gutkha manufacturer on a lease basis and were running their operations from the said spot located in Silvassa.
PSI Jaideep Patil said “The duo has been arrested, remanded in magisterial custody and the investigation is on.”
The police members comprising of Rajas Shaikh, Sachin Dhavale, Kaustubh Jadhav and Shital Shinde participated in the crackdown.
The crime branch sleuths raided a private company engaged in the illegal manufacturing of gutka in Silvassa in Dadra and Nagar Haveli union territory and seized stocks worth ₹15 crore during a cross-border raid conducted on January 7.
Earlier, the crime branch raided some places in Wanowrie and Hadapsar where they got leads about illegal gutka being manufactured in Vapi (Gujarat) and Silvassa (Dadra and Nagar Haveli ) being sold in the city market through their front men, four of whom have been arrested by the crime branch during earlier raids.
The crime branch officials had detected a “hawala transaction ring” while it was probing the seizure of a gutka stash wherein nine persons, including hawala operators, were arrested by the team. The investigation revealed a network of gutka suppliers, transporters and distributors, with links to hawala remittance rings for money transfer operations from other states of the country.
The crime branch was assisted by the local police and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorities of the union territory during the raid. As of January 8, the city police have raided 28 places in connection with storing gutka illegally.
