The State Monitoring Cell (SMC) issued a ‘red notice’ to the law enforcement worldwide to locate the notorious liquor supplier Vinod Sindhi alias ‘Vijay’ Sindhi after transactions worth crores were noticed from his accounts.
It was also reported that Vinod had been running his liquor business unhindered with the help of his business mates-Nagdan Gadhvi, Sonu and Ashu. He left India fearing his arrest.
Vinod Sindhi has been into the business of trading liquor for over two decades now.
Accompanied with other bootleggers from Ahmedabad, Vinod Sindhi was planning to spread his liquor business all across the state of Gujarat and Saurashtra with the use of radio-navigation technique ‘GPS’ (Global Positioning System) under the shade of police officials.
In his expansion and monitoring strategy, Vinod Sindhi used to assign different people in specified areas to monitor each vehicle loaded with liquor. Later, arrangements were made to extort the due amount from ‘Angadias’ through ‘Hawala’ technique.
It is believed that the ‘Angadia’ system is a century-old parallel banking system in the country where traders send cash generally from one state to another through a person called ‘Angadia’ in the form of ‘couriers’. It was by and large used in the jewellery business with Mumbai – Surat being the most popular route because of their flourishing diamond business.
Vinod Sindhi is one of India’s most wanted men in over 38 notorious cases of Gujarat because of his association with liquor trading.
In his early years, Vinod Sindhi was a wholesale trader of salted snacks in Vadodara. The idea of running a liquor business came on the spot while he was munching snacks with liquor along with his fellow mates. His idea turned into one of the biggest holders of liquor business across the country.
Madhya Pradesh and Haryana became his business hotspots.
The reports also suggested that most of the senior and junior police officers across Gujarat have escorted Vinod after enduring his services.
The SMC officials had traced the liquor trail to Haryana and Rajasthan after the notorious bootlegger Nagdan Gadhvi was arrested from Gurugram in Haryana on July 3 this year. Subsequently, the officials had initiated the process of getting warrants against Vinod Sindhi.
The officials have also found voice clips in Gadhvi’s phone where details of purchase, distribution and sales of IMFL were revealed. The clips were sent for voice spectrography to learn about the people Gadhvi was interacting with. There’s a high possibility that the list may include the names of senior and junior police officials.
To concrete the strategies of monitoring, a large faction of SMC officials are in favour of shuffling the team, but due to the pressure from the higher ends, they have not been able to do so.
In Ahmedabad, trading of alcohol across the border is backed by many senior police officers in the department. Reports have also stated that a high-profile team has caught a heavy quantity of liquor from the century-old Ellis Bridge in the Ahmedabad area.
The State Monitoring Cell (SMC), a branch of Gujarat Police is entitled to the work of enforcement, coordination, research and analysis to assist the Director General and Head of Police Department.
