Country-made liquor dens raided near Vishwamitri

Vadodara: The city police have launched a crackdown on illegal country liquor distillation operations along the banks of the Vishwamitri river, following the discovery of barrels and brewing equipment by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) commissioner Dilip Kumar Rana during an inspection at Vadsar on Friday, where river resectioning work is underway.

In a raid conducted on Friday night, Manjalpur police arrested Raju Mali, a resident of Khodiyarnagar, and seized materials used for manufacturing country liquor. The arrest came in the wake of viral videos showing the distillation process in progress.

In a separate raid, police apprehended Vikram Thakore in Vadsar for allegedly running a similar operation. His wife and another woman, believed to be involved in the brewing process, managed to escape before police arrived.

Sources said Rana alerted the city's police commissioner after witnessing the illegal activity. The visuals showed not just barrels used for distillation but also large quantities of raw materials strewn at the site, raised serious concerns about unchecked bootlegging along the riverbanks.