Gujarat: Ahmedabad tops in illegal liquor cases despite 1948 prohibition

Gandhinagar: Gujarat’s largest city Ahmedabad has reportedly recorded the highest number of illegal liquor cases in the four commissionerates of Gujarat police, The Free Press Journal reported.

This is despite the state’s probation of liquor since 1948 in honour of Mahatma Gandhi who lived with Kasturba at the Gandhi Ashram in Ahmedabad.

Ahmedabad reported the highest 17 cases out of the total 35 prohibition cases filed by the State Monitoring Cell (DGP office) in the first half of 2024.

Of the four commissionerates of Gujarat police, according to the data available from State Monitoring Cell (SMC), Ahmedabad recorded 17 liquor cases while 13 in Surat, 5 in Vadodara and zero cases in Rajkot. Since 2023, Ahmedabad recorded top number of liquor cases, according to the report.

Out of the 83 cases that SMC filed in four commissionerates in Gujarat in 2023, 37 were registered in the Ahmedabad police commissionerate jurisdiction after successful raids.

Alongside, the Ahmedabad Police Commissionerate has been in the news for some time following incidents including recent junior level transfers, the award-posting and the bust of an international sex racket by CID Crime.

In the first half of 2024 between January and June, SMC carried out 180 successful raids out of a total of 224 raids in all the districts and cities of Gujarat.

In the raids about Rs.11.5 crore worth of liquor and about Rs.26 crore worth of illegal goods were seized.

Back in 2021 between January and December, SMC filed a total of 148 successful raids, seizing a total of Rs.13.64 crore worth of liquor and Rs 6.90 crore worth of illegal goods.

Even as the SMC has doubled the number of successful raids in 2024, SMC's DIG Vigilance Nirlipta Rai reportedly said, "We have increased enforcement. No other major changes have been made."