Rural police crime branch high on action

NAGPUR: The local crime branch (LCB) unit has been playing a key role in curbing the rising trend of illegal activities in the rural localities of Nagpur district.
The unit, under superintendent of police Manoj Sharma and additional SP Prakash Jadhav, has been instrumental in busting rackets in the last few months. Buoyed by the leadership qualities of the two young officers, the LCB conducted raids at a number of places last week beginning from the Pola festival when the anti-social activities traditionally get a boost due to the upbeat mood of the people who indulge in consuming liquor and gambling.
Sources in the rural police said that the LCB unit had conducted sweeping raids across the district at different places registering 39 cases and nabbing 49 culprits related to the illegal liquor sale. Materials worth nearly Rs 4.19 lakhs were seized.
Also in the same period, the crime branch sleuths registered 12 cases and arrested around 87 people for their involvement in gambling. Cash and other materials worth around Rs 2.88 lakhs were seized. On August 23 last week, the rural police team raided an unauthorized scrap dealer Shivbabu Kushwah at Khaparkheda who was booked after substantial iron materials were found in his possession without any authenticate documents throwing light on their sources.
The police team had seized 880 kilograms of iron worth around Rs 35, 200. On the same day, the LCB squad had also raided a highway eatery, Lashkara Dabha, at Haladgaon in Buti Bori. The cops had seized a variety of materials after several irregularities had come to fore. Apart from two domestic gas cylinders, the cops had seized numbers of bottles of illegal country and foreign liquors including Beer containers. Five jumbo-sized drums, containing adulterated kerosene, were also found at his premises. On August 24, also in the last week, the crime team had arrested a 22-year-old bootlegger from Umri (Sindi)-Chincholi road during an action on the illegal sale of liquors in the district.
The culprit, identified as Kapil Giri, was found with nearly 106 bottles of 180ml liquor, 48 bottles of another variety and followed by the seizure of substantial country liquor worth Rs 19,500.