Ketan Chauhan with the seized liquor bottles.

VADODARA: He completed engineering in electrical branch and wanted to pursue higher studies abroad. But severe financial crunch and lack of funds for application and tuition fees turned Ketan Chauhan, a native of Vapi , into a bootlegger.

Chauhan, who finished his bachelor of engineering from a private institute in city lived in a rented apartment on BPC Road in Akota. He was nabbed by detection of crime branch (DCB) of city police on Tuesday night. DCB sleuths said that they had received information about a bootlegger operating from an apartment in Fine Home flats on BPC Road on the basis of which they went there to raid the house.

Police said that when they were climbing the stairs of the building, Chauhan was coming downstairs with a bag. Seeing the cops, he panicked and started going upstairs. However, the police stopped him and searched his bag. They found some bottles of liquor in it. So, they searched his house from where they found 78 bottles of high-end liquor brands including Jim Beam Bourbon whisky , Dewar’s Scotch whisky, Teacher’s Scotch whisky, Passport Scotch whisky, Smirnoff vodka and wine among others. Police has valued the liquor cache at Rs 73,800.

Chauhan was arrested and handed over to Gotri police station for further interrogation and investigation. During questioning, Chauhan told the police that he wanted to pursue higher studies abroad, but did not have money for it. So, he turned to bootlegging. Police said that Chauhan used to get liquor bottles from Daman and sell it in city.

“Chauhan claims that he is into bootlegging business since a month. He told us that he used to deliver the bottles to his customers on a bicycle to avoid any suspicion,” said D J Chudasama, in-charge police inspector, DCB. He added that besides bootlegging, Chauhan was also working at a private company in the city.

Chauhan claims to be hailing from a humble background. His father also works in a private company in Vapi, he told the police.

