A Day after residents of Old Vadaj took to the streets against the police’s “inability” to close down a listed woman ‘bootlegger’, Savita Bhabhi’s liquor den in the area, the Naranpura police on Sunday arrested the woman and her husband, Ranjeet.

The police raided the houses of other listed bootleggers in the area as a fallout of the same protest, but nothing was found, the police said.

Irate residents of Old Vadaj in Naranpura had staged demonstrations on Saturday and stopped traffic near the Juna Vadaj Circle as a protest against the police allegedly allowing Savita to run liquor dens in the Hanumanpura Na Kahdo area. When teams of the Naranpura police rushed to the site, angry residents pelted stones on them and vandalised their vehicles.

The police resorted to a mild lathicharge and lobbed six teargas shells to control the mob. A total of 18 protestors were later arrested on charges of rioting, who were on Sunday remanded in one-day police custody.

Meanwhile, the Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) has strongly condemned the arrest of protestors, calling it a politically motivated action.

“It is very unfortunate that the police in the BJP-led state government arrest innocent people who try to raise their voice against bootleggers and bootlegging in the dry state. This only exposes the support the bootleggers receive from politicians in the state,” GPCC spokesperson Jayantial Parmar said in a statement.

The police, however, denied allegations that Savita was running liquor dens. “Though she is a listed bootlegger and has been booked under PASA in the past, Savita is no more in the bootlegging business,” said R K Kumvariya, the in-charge inspector of Naranpura police station.

... contd.