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ED files prosecution complaint against Daman ‘liquor smuggler’, his wife

Following the raids, ED also seized three luxury cars worth Rs 2 crore and Rs 71 lakh cash. ED had also attached 37 properties of Ramesh in Daman and Gujarat worth Rs 3.34 crore, and Rs 1.13 crore deposits lying in 11 bank accounts.

upendra rai custody, court extends upendra rai's custody, journalist upendra rai money laundering, delhi court upendra rai, enforcement directorate, upendra rai ed During raids conducted by ED officials at Ramesh’s several houses and business entities in Daman and Surat, large quantity of liquor worth Rs 2.5 crore was seized.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ahmedabad unit, on Monday filed a prosecution complaint against alleged liquor mafia Ramesh Patel alias Michael and his wife, among others, before a special court in Ahmedabad under Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMLA). A prosecution complaint is equivalent to a chargesheet.

The complaint filed before the special PMLA court runs into 3,900 pages. Local sources said that Ramesh is brother of Daman district panchayat president Suresh Patel, who was earlier with the BJP but fought independently with his team of Independent candidates and won the elections.

The ED had lodged a case of money laundering against Ramesh, his wife Bhanu, aide Sanat, all residents of Union territory Daman, and Feroz Saiyed, a resident of Surat, in May 2017. The case was lodged on the basis of FIRs registered by Surat Police against the accused for allegedly smuggling liquor to Gujarat.

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Ramesh had allegedly not taken permission from excise commissioner, Daman, which is a requirement to start a wine business. This led Daman Police to lodge an FIR under various IPC sections against him.

ED officials said that Surat Police had seized a truck laden with Indian Made Foreign liquor (IMFL) bottles worth Rs 22.98 lakh from Barbodan village in Olpad taluka in October, 2016. There are as many as 23 FIRs against Patel registered by Gujarat Police at different police stations.

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During probe, it was found that Patel used to allegedly supply liquor illegally to bootleggers of south Gujarat after taking orders on WhatsApp. The liquor consignment was sent through shipping containers with forged invoices of plastic product manufacturer. The payment was, however, done through Angadia (courier) firms or directly through a person sent by Ramesh, ED officials said.

Investigations further revealed that Ramesh and his wife obtained the license of ‘Sai Wines’ by using forged partnership deeds. Apart from ‘Sai Wine Shop’, the couple had several other similar shops in the name of ‘Sai Enterprise’, ‘Sai Bar and Restaurant’, ‘Damania Enterprise’ and ‘Krishna Wine’. ED officials said that the couple used to procure liquor from various distilleries in Daman and then smuggle them to Gujarat.

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During raids conducted by ED officials at Ramesh’s several houses and business entities in Daman and Surat, large quantity of liquor worth Rs 2.5 crore was seized. Officials had also found bank documents which revealed that between 2010-11 and 2016-17 a total of Rs 411 crore was deposited in 16 bank accounts of different firms of Patel and out of which Rs 98 crore was deposited only for ‘Sai Wines’. On checking the documents, the officials found that on record, Patel had showed sales only in Daman but was smuggling liquor to the bootleggers in Gujarat.

Following the raids, ED also seized three luxury cars worth Rs 2 crore and Rs 71 lakh cash. ED had also attached 37 properties of Ramesh in Daman and Gujarat worth Rs 3.34 crore, and Rs 1.13 crore deposits lying in 11 bank accounts.

First uploaded on: 10-07-2018 at 06:20 IST
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