Rs 4 lakh worth of Gutkha seized in Bajajnagar; 4 arrested

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar

A police team, acting on a tip-off, raided a house in Bajajnagar early Friday morning and seized gutkha worth Rs 4 lakh.

The accused has been identified as the Shivaji Balaji Sudke, a resident of Gajanan Colony, Bajajnagar and Sachin Mhaske. Shivaji confessed to buying the banned gutkha from Madhya Pradesh and selling it locally. Along with Sudke, his partner Mhaske and two others have been booked by the Cyber Crime Branch at MIDC Waluj Police Station. The police had received information about the illegal sale and storage of gutkha, flavoured tobacco and pan masala. At 3 am, police officers raided Sudke’s house, where they found 61 sacks of gutkha and flavoured tobacco, along with a mobile phone. Sudke and Mhaske revealed they had been sourcing the gutkha from Burhanpur, Madhya Pradesh and selling it to local buyers like Govardhan Gaikwad and Santosh Jadhav. The investigation into Sudke’s wife’s bank account exposed the illegal transactions and sales network.