Village raid reveals underground liquor distilleries, two cops suspended

PATIALA: Patiala police on Sunday morning busted a chain of secret underground bunkers that were being used to illegally distil country-made liquor at Marrori village in Samana sub-division, 30km from here.

After the raids which led to the registration of six cases against 18 persons, Patiala senior superintendent of police (SSP) M S Sidhu suspended the station house officer (SHO) of Samana Sadar police station, sub-inspector Naraian Singh, and the incharge of Mavi Kalan police post, Chhaju Singh, for failing to keep a check on bootleggers.

The SSP said he would be writing to higher authorities for charge-sheeting Samana deputy superintendent of police (detective) Rajwinder Singh, and has at present sought an explanation from him for his “loose supervision” and “ineffective control over subordinates”.

The early-morning raids were carried out by around 50 cops. While some bunkers were detected inside houses, others were found on the Ghaggar riverbed. In all, five men have been arrested.

Sidhu said they had received a tip-off that people in Marrori village were involved in bootlegging and had even set up bunkers to prepare country-made liquor. He said they had not yet ruled out the possibility of the two suspended police officials being hand in glove with the bootleggers.

Nearly 50 cops swooped down on Marrori village on Sunday morning. The team was led by inspector Vijay Kumar, incharge of the crime investigating agency (CIA) of Samana, and he was accompanied by Samana City police station SHO Surinder Bhalla. The suspended SHO was also a part of the raiding team. After raiding houses in the village, the raid spread to the banks of Ghaggar river, where multiple bunkers were found.

The police team recovered a huge quantity of country-made liquor dumped in these bunkers, following which six FIRs were registered against 18 persons. Around 50 litres of illicit liquor and 5,000 litres of undistilled liquor were seized in the raids.

The SSP said villagers had put a system in place to alert each other in case of police raids. He said when cops reached the village, many involved bootlegging fled, leaving behind raw material and undistilled liquor. He said the raids to nab those booked in the six FIRs were being carried out.