Acting on a tip-off, Vadodara police on Thursday busted a pre-marriage booze party and 261 people, including former IPL Chairman and Managing Director of the Alembic Pharmaceutical Ltd Chirayu Amin, were booked in this connection.
Among others prominent people who were booked includes Chirayu Amin’s sons -- Pranav and Udit; Zydex Industries CEO Ajay Ranka, Transpek Silox Managing Director Paresh Saraiya, Rakesh Agrawal of Shiva Pharma and Jewel Group Chairman Amit Goradia.
Police claimed that they seized liquor bottles worth Rs 1.70 lakh from the farmhouse of city-based industrialist Jitendra Shah, who owns the Shilchar group, with interests in power equipment manufacturing. The seizure included 103 bottles of whiskey and 116 bottles of beer.
Police recovered 103 liquor bottles and 116 bottles of beer, priced at Rs 1,28,950 during the raid conducted at the Akhand farmhouse in Ampad village near here. Also, all 261 people were booked in this regard.
This is the first such raid on a liquor party in the state after Gujarat tightened its liquor laws by bringing in an ordinance in this regard last week.
"We raided the farmhouse last night where a liquor party was underway," Vadodara (Rural) SP Saurabh Tolumbia told reporters here.
"We have registered two different cases related to the liquor party. One against organisers of the party Jitendra Shah and his son Abhay, who are also owners of the farmhouse. They have been arrested," he said.
"While milder sections of the prohibition laws were invoked in other offences against those present in the liquor party," he said.
The strict offence invoked against organisers of the party is amended article 65 of the Gujarat Prohibition Act, which is a very serious offence and punishable with 10 years RI and a fine of Rs 5 lakhs, he said.
"This is for the first time that these sections have been invoked after the state government recently amended prohibition laws and made it stringent," he further said.
"We have taken blood samples of all those who were present in the party, and let them off as the punishment under these sections are not more than seven years," he said.
"We have seized large quantity of 103 liquor bottles and 116 beer bottles the value of which is Rs 1,28,950 from the farm house. We have also seized 80 cars from the venue," he said.
The pre-marriage party was held to celebrate the wedding of grand daughter of Jitendra Shah, police said.
