Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Seizure of illicit spirit: constable suspended

Staff Reporter

8,000 litres of spirit was seized from land owned by him

Thiruvananthapuram: The Home Department has suspended a police constable in connection with the seizure of nearly 8,000 litres of illicit spirit from Puliyarakonam in Vilappilsala police station limits on Monday.

The suspended official was identified as Harikumar. He is attached to the Rural Police Control Room at Kazhakuttam.

Circle Inspector (CI), Nedumangad, Muhamad Shafi said the spirit was seized from a temporary shed in a secluded piece of land owned by Harikumar.

The tahsildar gave a certificate to the investigators stating that the land was in the name of the police constable. The CI said Harikumar did not report for duty on Tuesday and is suspected to have gone absconding. The police were yet to name Harikumar as accused in the spirit case.

The police said the Hyundai Santro car seized from the plot was registered in the name of Sukumaran, of Poojappura.

The police also impounded the tanker lorry which delivered the spirit to the secret godown and arrested its crew.

The police said the lorry entered the State through the Walayar check-post in Palakkad district.

The lorry crew told the check-post officials that the tanker was empty and was returning from Karnataka after delivering milk. The "spring plates" of the lorry was designed to show no sign of compression even if the tanker was fully loaded.

Check-post officials often inspected the "spring plates" to find out whether tanker lorries were loaded or not. The spirit smugglers also filled the pipes leading out of the tanker with milk to cheat the inspectors.

The police suspect the spirit was meant for sale as toddy through certain licensed outlets in the district. The police were investigating Mallikarjunan, of Udupi, and Suresh, a local resident, in connection with the spirit smuggling case.

The tanker lorry was delivered to the crew members at an out-of-the-way spot on the outskirts of Bangalore in Karnataka.

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