In a raid conducted early on Wednesday, the Thane Police Crime Branch busted an illicit hooch racket near Mumbra. The liquor was being brewed in a forested area and sold illegally in Thane district.
According to crime branch officials, the raid was conducted on the basis of a tip-off received by Unit I. Officers said they teamed up with the Diaghar police to conduct the raid in Motha Desai village, as specified by the informant.
“While the 12 men who were brewing hooch managed to flee into the forest, we found 155 plastic drums full of raw material as well as 170 drums of hooch. We also found other equipment like pipes, which were used in the brewing process,” an officer with the Thane crime branch said.
As the quantity of the hooch and the raw material was too much to transport, police took samples of both and destroyed the rest on the spot after conducting a panchnama. “An evaluation of the contraband at the spot showed that there was 150 litres of raw material and 6,800 litres of hooch at the spot," said ACP Mukund Hatote, Thane Crime Branch.
The accused have been identified as Nana Kini, Vikram Kini, Praveen Deokar, Subhash Deokar, Lalchand Deokar, Karanjit Deokar, Ramesh Kini, Govind Patil, Yogesh Deokar, Sharad Patil, Pandurangh Mhatre and Shreyas Patil. The police has circulated their names in all police stations in Thane and the Thane rural police, requesting information about cases registered against them, if any.
12 men who were brewing hooch managed to flee
into the forest,
police officers said
