Daijiworld Media Network - Karwar (MS)
Karwar, Mar 1: Over 2,440 litres of illegal arrack worth Rs 7,15,000 that was stored for distributing to the voters during the upcoming Lok Sabha elections was confiscated from the compound of a house at Amadalli village of the taluk, on definite information, by the excise department officials.
Politicians have already made preparations to distribute arrack to the voters during election time. This arrack, which is available at cheap rate in the state of Goa, is procured and transporte through either waterway or forest route and stored in forests on the border of Karnataka. This stored arrack is then dumped in specific places in the night by transporting the same through commercial goods vehicles and cars. Later during the election time, the same is distributed to the voters and sold also.
This time too, the arrack was procured from Goa and was stored in a forest at the border under the limits of Karnataka. On the midnight of Thursday, February 28, this was being transported to specific location by Dilip Mahananda Naika, close aide of BJP MLA of the town Roopali Naika along with his accomplices Sunil Pandit and Vishnu Talekar in a Winger vehicle bearing duplicate registration plate of Belagavi. The vehicle was intercepted by excise officials. However, the culprits dodged the excise authorities and drove the vehicle and unloaded the arrack in the compound of Seetharam Prabhakar Chinchanakar, a resident of Amadalli village in the taluk and made good their escape.
District excise commissioner Manjunath and CBI DySP of Karwar who were following the Winger vehicle checked the compound in which the arrack was unloaded by the accused and found arrack worth lacs of rupees. In addition, when the excise officials started searching the Winger vehicle after intercepting, they found lethal weapons in the vehicle. However, the officials could not hold the culprits as they started the vehicle immediately and tried to escape. Though the excise officials chased the car of the culprits, they had already dumped the arrack in the compound of the said house and escaped from the spot. So the police and excise officials have confiscated the arrack.
A case is registered in this regard in the excise station and hunt is on to arrest the escaped culprits.