Bhubaneswar: Excise sleuths Tuesday seized a huge quantity of illegally brewed liquor from an ashram on the outskirts of the city.
The self-proclaimed Godman, Bichitrananda Dash Saraswati Maharaj alias Chotu Baba, and some of his non-Odia disciples were engaged in the illegal liquor trade for years.
On a tip-off, the special squad of the Cuttack Excise raided the Biswa Santi Adhyatmik Yogashram at Dumduma in Khandagiri Police Station limits here.
The sleuths seized around 100 litres of CS liquor and 20 litres of rectified spirit. The team also seized 1,000 covers of CS liquor used to pack the fake liquor. Three people were arrested, but Chotu Baba succeeded in giving Excise officials the slip.
Meanwhile, the Commissionerate Police arrested four persons who were found selling banned cough syrups at Kalpana Square in the city here.
The police nabbed one Sk. Azhar of Cuttack and seized 320 bottles of Eskof syrup which contained the banned substances Codeine and Methyl Morphine.
During interrogation, Azhar confessed that they used to supply psychotropic cough syrups to anti-social elements in the city regularly. He said he procured syrup bottles from Cuttack.
Later, according to the clues given by Azhar, the sleuths raided a godown in the Nandi Sahi area of Cuttack and seized 26,500 bottles containing 100 ml of cough syrup each.
The total amount of Codeine in the bottles seized by the sleuths was estimated at around 5.300 kg.
The persons arrested are Sk. Azhar, 19, of Baunsagali in Darghabazar Police Station limits, Bikash Maharana alias Vickey, Biswanath Mulia, 24, alias Kuna, of Thoria Sahi in Mangalabag Police Station limits and Ajaya Agarwal, 44, of Jauniliapati in Purighat Police Station limits here.
The police also seized four scooters from the spot.
