A Delhi Police constable on deputation with the State Excise Department team was beaten to death while another received injuries after they were attacked allegedly by a gang of illicit liquor suppliers in South Delhi’s Ghitorni after they were chased down by a raiding team in the early hours of Saturday. The injured constable has been admitted at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS).
The incident took place after Constable Vinod received an input that illicit liquor was being smuggled into the Capital in a car and that the consignment was meant for supply to a client in the posh Sainik Farms area of South Delhi on Saturday evening.
Acting on the tip-off, Constable Vinod and his colleague Sukhvinder laid a trap and spotted the vehicle in question near the Sainik Farms. As the suspects drove towards a forest in Ghitorni, the constables followed it. When they reached the forest and were looking for the smugglers, a group of men ambushed them with sticks and stones, said a police officer.
Vinod and Sukhwinder received serious injuries in the attack. Sukhvinder somehow managed to alert the police, following which the assailants fled from the spot. A police van that reached the scene of crime took the victims to AIIMS where Vinod succumbed to his head injuries on Saturday afternoon. “Sukhvinder is recuperating in the hospital,” said the officer.
A case under provisions pertaining to deterring a government servant from performing his duty and murder was registered against the accused persons and a hunt launched for the suspects. Later on Saturday evening, one of the accused identified as Pawan was arrested. During interrogation, he disclosed the identities of four other gang members who are presently on the run.
The police said the accused belong to a liquor mafia gang active in South Delhi. This, said a police officer, was done in an organised manner with each large consignment distributed in small portions to a network of local members of the chain.
“The alcohol enters the Capital mainly through the Mehrauli-Gurgaon Road from Haryana and the members of the network receive it at pre-decided locations, mostly in the open. They frequently change the locations for exchange of consignments. No one risks delivering the consignment at a fixed address to avoid detection,” he said.
Once in South Delhi, the alcohol is channelised further either for local consumption in mostly far-flung slum areas, including those located in Mangolpuri and Jehangirpuri. However, some smugglers use the well-connected Capital as a transit point to evade duties on excise. In such cases, the vehicles use the Mehrauli-Badarpur route and head towards States such as Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
Interestingly, within South Delhi -- which is a border district -- the demand for this smuggled Indian Made Foreign Liquor is little as those living in this affluent part of the city lok for costlier brands.
He added that cases of smuggling go up during festival season.
The city as a whole saw an enhanced inflow in the last few days through this route owing to elections, said another police source. On condition of anonymity, he added that some connivance between the local stakeholders and the smugglers could not be ruled out.
Despite efforts made to check the inflow of illicit liquor, the smugglers innovate and devise new methods and manage to outsmart the policemen. Consignment is concealed in cavity built within trucks or other vehicles. In some recent instances, smugglers have even used ambulances to carry illicit liquor in a bid to avoid detection.