Four persons arrested from illicit liquor factory in Greater Noida

Greater Noida: The police on Thursday arrested four persons from an illicit liquor factory in the Sigma 4 area. The suspects allegedly used the premises to manufacture adulterated liquor and sold them to people in Western UP, said officers. The arrests were part of a joint operation of the Hapur police and the Greater Noida police.

The suspects have been identified as Deepak Lal, 25, a resident of Bulandshahr; Deepak, 26, a resident of Meerut; Manish Kumar, 28, a resident of Surajpur; and Kuldeep, 27, a resident of Sigma 4 in Greater Noida.

Rajesh Kumar Singh, deputy commissioner of police, Greater Noida, said that the police are alert and checking for illicit liquor in the area. “On Thursday, we received information from the Hapur police about an illegal liquor factory running from Sector Sigma 4 in Greater Noida. A joint team of Greater Noida and Hapur police conducted a search operation on the premises and arrested four persons,” he said.

Neeraj Kumar Jadaun, SP, Hapur, said his team had arrested some suspects involved in manufacture and supply of illicit liquor last week in Simbhawali area. “Those suspects had revealed that an illegal factory was functioning in Greater Noida. We sent a team to Greater Noida which conducted a joint operation with the Noida police and busted the gang,” he said. He added that the gang had been selling the illicit liquor in Hapur, Bulandshahr and other neighbouring districts.

The police seized 720 bottles of liquor, five bags full of bottle caps, two drums, two bottle chemicals, 10 kg of urea and a Maruti Swift Dzire from the spot.

Police said the suspects had allegedly been functioning since the last three months in the area. “Kuldeep and Manish are locals. They had shared the information to their accomplices to get the premises on rent, produce the liquor, and make easy money,” said the police.

The arrested persons allegedly revealed that six more suspects are involved in the gang, said officers. Sujeet Upadhyaya, SHO Beta 2 police station, said: “The property owner is a co-accused because he had given the property on rent without proper verification,” he said.

A case has been registered against the ten suspects under Section 420 (cheating), Section 467 (forgery), Section 471 (using as genuine a forged document), Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of IPC, and sections 60-A, 62 and 72 of the UP Excise Act.

The four persons were produced in court and sent to judicial custody. “We have launched a search for the absconding persons,” the SHO said.

On January 11, two persons were found dead in an illicit liquor factory in Greater Noida’s Site V area. It appeared the two persons had consumed the spurious liquor and died, said the police.