Gutka worth Rs 83 lakh seized in separate operations, 5 held

Gutka worth around Rs 83 lakh was seized and five persons were arrested following searches conducted at four different places in Palghar district of Maharashtra, police said on Wednesday.

The banned substance was seized during the operations conducted on Tuesday, police said.

In the first incident, a police party conducted a raid in Maljipada within the limits of Valiv and seized gutka worth Rs 72.49 lakh and arrested Imran Subrati Khan (24), a resident of Bhayander, an official said.

An offence was registered against him with Valiv police station, an official said.

In another incident in Nalasopara, a tempo was stopped and following a search, gutka worth Rs 4.26 lakh was seized and the driver of the tempo was arrested, he added.

In the third incident, Kasa police arrested two persons from Ghol village on Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway while they were transporting the banned goods worth Rs 4.90 lakh in their tempo.

The duo was identified as Ashiq Mushtaq Manzil (40) and Arif Abdul Karim, police said.

In another operation, man identified as Ashok Jwalaprasad Gupta (40) was arrested from Valiv and gutka worth Rs 97,722 was seized from him. An offence was registered against him with Valiv police station.

Palghar police spokesperson Hemant Katkar said that offences under sections 328 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), and 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) and also sections of the Food Safety and Standards Act were registered against the arrested accused.