Chhatarpur ‘social worker’ turns bootlegger at night

BHOPAL: While during the day he would be serving society as a ‘social worker’, at night he would slip under the cover of darkness and operate a liquor cartel in town of Naugaon. On Monday, however, his operation came to an end after Chhatarpur police busted his gang.
According to police, Manoj Sahu, a former liquor contractor and property dealer, made use of the announcement of the initial 21-day lockdown in the last week of March to smuggle 55 crates of country-made liquor to a border village in Uttar Pradesh from Chhattarpur district’s Naugaon.
But even as he was involved in a cross-border racket, Sahu would keep himself active in other ways as well. During the day time, Manoj would distribute food packets among the poor in Naugaon town. He also allegedly got involved some influential people from the town in the distribution of food.
But in the night, police alleged, Sahu would run a liquor cartel. The liquor bottles hidden in the border villages would be smuggled from Naugaon at double the rates. This would involve three more persons, police said.
SHO of Naugaon police station Virendra Sharma said, two persons were arrested including Rohit Yadav, a bootlegger, and Sukh Singh, a local man helping Rohit. However, the kingpin Manoj Sahu is on the run. Of the 55 crates of liquor hidden in the bordering village, Sahu had succeeded in smuggling 25 crates. The police have confiscated the remaining.