Talking to Express Newsline, PCB PI C M Mudaliar said Khandu Thakore Patel and Sukhdev Kika Patel, both residents of Tunda Faliya area of Pinrat village, Ajit Ishwar Patel from Bhesan village and Pravin Rana from Rander area of the city were booked under PASA on charges of manufacturing country liquor and supplying IMFL to liquor dens in the city.

Mudaliar said the four were sent to the Junagadh, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar and Bhuj jails respectively. All four have a criminal history and have been booked earlier under the Prohibition Act. Ajit Patel was earlier arrested in illegal trading of naphtha and diesel, while Pravin Tailor, arrested for rioting, has even served a PASA sentence, sources said.

In the other three arrests, the Mahidharpura police arrested one Gaurang Bhatt in a connection with a theft of a Maruti car in January last year. He is said to have confessed to stealing another car and three car stereo systems in the past one year.

The Katargam police also took into custody Shambhu Rabari and Ramesh Rabari, both notorious criminals involved in cases of rioting in the past few months.