Ex-IPL chairman Chirayu Amin among the 261 people arrested in Vadodara liquor party

Former IPL Chairman and Managing Director of the Alembic Pharmaceutical Ltd Chirayu Amin was among the 261 people busted by police in a high profile pre-marriage liquor party at a farmhouse on the outskirts of Gujarat late on Thursday night. The detained list had 134 women and two foreigners.

The arrested people, however, were later released on bail, police said on Friday. This is the first such raid on a liquor party in the state after Gujarat tightened its liquor laws by bringing in an ordinance in this regard last week. Acting on a tip-off, Vadodara district police busted a pre-wedding party organised by city-based industrialist Jitendra Shah at his farmhouse on Sevasi road in Ampad village near here on Thursday.

Police recovered 103 liquor bottles and 116 bottles of beer, priced at Rs 1,28,950 during the raid. The police seized 80 cars. They also arrested Jitendra Shah and his son Alay Shah for allegedly possessing liquor. Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja issued a press release here Friday in this connection and said that no influential person will be spared and everyone will be punished under the new amended prohibition law.

Vadodara district superintendent of police Saurabh Tolumbia told reporters, “Five teams raided the farmhouse on Thursday night where a liquor party was under way. We have registered two different cases related to the liquor party. One against organisers of the party Jitendra Shah and his son Abhay, who are also owners of the farmhouse. They have been arrested. We have detained 261 persons, including Chirayu Amin and Rakesh Agrawal, a city-based businessman.”

The strict offence invoked against organisers of the party is amended article 65 of the Gujarat Prohibition Act which is a very serious offence, punishable with 10 years RI and a fine of Rs 5 lakhs, he said.