In an example of how vibrant Gujarat could get, a bootlegger, an accused earlier imprisoned under Pasa, held a press conference to highlight police corruption.
Shubhya, a bootlegger, claimed the local police was demanding a bribe from him. Incidentally, Shubhya is wanted by the police and is declared as absconding. Gujarat is a dry state where consumption of alcohol is banned under law. He still went ahead and held a press conference in a posh hotel in Navrangpura to highlight police atrocity and corruption.
Perumal, alias Shiva Shubhya, an accused booked in several bootlegging cases and who has served time in jail under Prevention of Anti Social Activities (Pasa) Act told the media that he has been falsely booked for smuggling Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The IMFL was seized by the Amraivadi police on December 2, 2010.
Addressing the press conference, Shubhya told reporters that he is being unnecessarily harassed by the cops who are demanding `1 lakh to let him go free in a false case filed against him. Shubhya told reporters that he had left the bootlegging business eight months ago and at present runs an auto garage. He said the police is not happy with his decision and wants him back to go back to bootlegging since that gives the police a lot of “hapta”.
He accused the Amraivadi police station officials of harassing him.
“Since my marriage in February 2010, I decided to quit all illegal activities,” he told reporters. Shubhya was last booked for IMFL smuggling when 134 bottles of IMFL were seized from near the house of one Vimal Kawandar (32), another bootlegger and a former member of the Ghetia gang.
Kawandar said, “I told the police that the 134 bottles seized by them belonged to me and Shubhya had no role to play in it.”