Chandrapur: Scented tobacco worth Rs 20.62 lakh seized from vehicle; extortion case also filed

There has been a new turn in the scented tobacco case in Chandrapur. Ramnagar police have seized goods worth Rs 20.62 lakh from a vehicle carrying banned scented tobacco. A case has been registered against the vehicle's driver, Sameer Qureshi, and its owner, Wasim Jhimri.

The matter does not end there. On the driver's complaint, a case has also been registered at Ramnagar police station under serious sections against Arbaz Mehboob Sheikh and Irfan Sheikh. According to the complaint, the two are accused of threatening to get this same consignment caught, abducting the driver, extorting Rs 3 lakh and demanding Rs 50,000 every month. These are only allegations so far. How much truth there is in either case will become clear only through the police investigation.

After the extortion case was registered, these youths held a press conference on November 3. They claim that the police administration and the scented tobacco mafia have joined hands and that false and fabricated cases have been filed against them. Who is telling the truth will also emerge only after the investigation. Even so, the case has once again brought the roots of the city's illegal trade into discussion.

The driver, Qureshi, has made some startling statements to the police. The complaint records that Wasim Jhimri called him to a godown in the MIDC area and told him to pick up the scented tobacco consignment from there.

An older episode linked to this godown is also being recalled. Some years ago, Balasaheb Khade, then police inspector of the Local Crime Branch (LCB), carried out a major raid on this godown. Mixed tobacco was found being prepared there on a large scale at the time. Yet how Jhimri is running his business so fearlessly today, what political backing he enjoys, and who has repeatedly saved him from the clutches of the law are questions now being discussed among the people of Chandrapur. It is being said that tobacco dealers were cracked down on during Khade's time, but that circumstances later changed and Jhimri became active again.

People are also asking whether Kachore, the current LCB police inspector, will take any firm action against this trade, which plays with public health and invites diseases such as cancer.

Meanwhile, the scented tobacco trade is said to be thriving in Chandrapur district, and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) appears to be deliberately turning a blind eye. When IAS officer Tukaram Mundhe took charge as FDA commissioner, a strict campaign was run across the state against such illegal and dangerous trades. In Chandrapur, however, the FDA department appears to be sitting by as a mere spectator.

On one hand, cases are being registered against both sides and the layers of the tobacco smuggling are unfolding. On the other, the whole district is watching what firm steps the police and the FDA take now.