One held for liquor adulteration in Palghar; stock worth Rs 12 lakh seized

The police have busted a liquor adulteration racket in Maharashtras Palghar district by arresting one person and seizing stock worth Rs 12 lakh an official said on Saturday reported news agency PTIActing on a tipoff a team from the MBVV polices crime branch raided a chawl in Nalasopara on Thursday and arrested the accused Dharmaraj Babulal Nishad 55 the official said reported PTIThe accused allegedly procured cheap liquor from DiuDaman and Goa adulterated it with chemicals and sold it in bottles of reputed highend liquor brands senior inspector Aviraj Kurhade said reported PTIOur team has seized 368 bottles of 750 ml and 180 ml liquor of various highend brands and other paraphernalia worth Rs 12 lakh he said reported PTIA case has been registered under relevant provisions of the Maharashtra Prohibition Act 1949 along with sections 318 cheating and 274 adulteration of food or drink intended for sale of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita the official saidNagar panchayat chief held for bid to siphon off Rs 111 cr through forged documentsIn another case the police have arrested the president of a local governing body at Vikramgad in Maharashtras Palghar district after alert officials of a leading public sector bank foiled his attempt to siphon off Rs 111 crore through submission of forged documents officials said on Saturday reported PTIThe accused Nilesh alias Pinka Ramesh Padwale who is the president of Vikramgad Nagar Panchayat also owns O V Construction Company He was arrested on Friday from neighbouring Thane they said reported PTIThe alleged embezzlement plot came to light on November 7 when a fake request letter from the Public Works Department PWD for issuance of a demand draft for Rs 11163 crore in the name of the construction company was presented at the Jawhar branch of the State Bank of India SBI an official said reported PTIThe demand letter and accompanying cheque carried the purported signatures of a PWD executive engineer and accountant But during the scrutiny of the letter the bank officials grew suspicious as they found several inconsistencies including the use of word billion instead of crore the strikingly different style of letter writing the official saidThe bank staff first tried to verify the request via email but received no response A vigilant employee then personally visited the Jawhar PWD office where officials provided mixed and contradictory answers he said reported PTIThe conspiracy was fully exposed when the SBI managers met the executive engineer in person as he said the signature on the letter was not his The subsequent investigation by the police culminated in the arrest of Padwale while a case was also filed against one Yajnesh Ambire reported PTIThe police have registered the case against the duo under charges of cheating and forgeryWith inputs from PTI