BHUBANESWAR: That illegal liquor trade is flourishing in the City was evident on Saturday when a clandestinely-running bar was busted during an eviction drive in Kharavela Nagar area. At least 2,000 bottles of IMFL were seized from the bar and its manager Deepak Dwivedy was arrested by police. Total value of the seized liquor would be over ` 50,000, according to preliminary estimates. What was interesting was that the illegally-operating bar, complete with all the amenities, had managed to evade notice of the authorities, police and Excise officials. It was the BMC which brought it to the fore. Sources said when the civic body officials, accompanied by local police, carried out the eviction in the area, located behind Chandrama Apartments, little did they know that they would stumble upon a bar. The bar had different kinds of foreign liquor, including Scotch. During verification, police found that licence for the bar was in the name of one Himansu Padhi. The bar was permitted to run near Sriya Square. Instead, it was operating from a different location. What was baffling is that police found scores of syringes and injectable apparatus in the rooms adjoining the bar. It has prompted the cops to believe that use of narcotic drugs was rampant in the area. There were also traces of well-furnished rooms in the vicinity where used condoms were found. Besides, the buildings near the bar also had underground cells pointing at existence of gambling joints. Sources said the bar and all the shady places were reported to Commissionerate Police by a senior IPS officer who resides in the neighbourhood. Similarly, women from the area also brought to notice of the police the anti-social activities following which the eviction was planned.
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