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Illegal gutkha godowns raided near Porur in late night operation
In a major operation, the city police on Friday night chanced upon two illegal gutkha godowns in Bhaikadai in Mangadu police station limit near Porur and seized huge quantities of the banned tobacco products along with bundles of cigarettes of foreign brands.
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
According to initial inputs from police sources, at least 4,000 kg of gutkha worth a few lakhs of rupees and a huge quantity of cigarettes were seized from two locations – a drinking water package unit and a hardware godown and raided by the police teams on Friday night.
Police picked up two people, including the man in charge of the packaged drinking water unit for questioning and are on the lookout for others.
Police got wind of the illegal storage and distribution network when they caught a 22-year-old man driving a mini load van stuffed with eight huge bundles of gutkha strips on Gandhi Road in Puzhal on Thursday.
During interrogation, the cops came to know that he had procured it from an illegal godown in Mangadu. Following this lead, they kept a watch on the address and related places before raiding the two places on Friday night.
Police believe that despite a ban, several traders are still smuggling gutkha from states like Karnataka and Maharashtra to sell the same through illegal distribution networks.
CBI in gutkha scam to ensure fair probe: Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a Madras High Court verdict ordering a CBI probe into the multi-crore rupee gutkha scam in which a minister and top state police officers and officials are alleged to be involved.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra dismissed an appeal filed by E Sivakumar, who was an officer in the Food Safety and Drug Administration Department at the time of the scam. He had moved the top court challenging the April 26 HC order. The apex court said the high court has “cogitated” over all issues in detail and the probe was transferred to the CBI to ensure fair investigation in the case.
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