VADODARA: At at time when the Gujarat police chief has directed his officers to act tough on bootleggers , three cops including a sub-inspector and two lok rakshak dal LRD ) personnel were arrested on charges of bootlegging and under various sections of the Prohibition Act in Chhota Udepur district on Saturday.Police sub-inspector JB Katara and two LRD personnel - Ranjitsinh Bhupendrasinh and Kanu Gigabhai - posted at Kadwal police station in Chhota Udepur were arrested after 265 liquor bottles were found from the house of Katara.Following their arrest, the trio was suspended by the assistant superintendent of police, Chhota Udepur, Dharmendra Sharma. The trio was booked at Kadwal police station under section 65E of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, pertaining to possessing, transporting, selling or buying liquor and under section 81 for abetting the offence.Sharma had received information that Katara possessed illegal liquor stock in the government quarter he was living in.A team of local crime branch, special operations group and parole furlough squad of Chhota Udepur police raided Katara’s house late on Friday and seized the liquor. Katara was living in the old building of the police station, which had been converted into a government quarter. When the cops checked the house, they found liquor worth Rs 39,510.When Katara was asked about the liquor stock, he admitted that he had stocked the liquor bottles illegally, the police said.Katara further told police that he and the two LRD personnel Ranjitsinh and Kanu used to siphon the liquor bottles seized during liquor raids.Sharma said, “We do not know since when the three policemen involved in such illegal activities. Once we interrogate them we will know more details like to whom they were selling the liquor.” The police are expected to produce them before a local court on Sunday and seek their custody.Katara was an assistant sub-inspector in Dahod and was promoted to PSI rank after clearing the PSI exam conducted in 2017. He was transferred to Chhota Udepur six months back and appointed at Kadwal police station about three months ago. The two LRD personnel were with Kadwal police station since a year.

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