Truck full of liquor looted, Madhya Pradesh high court told

INDORE: The manager of a liquor shop in Mhow told the Indore bench of Madhya Pradesh high court on Wednesday that the truck allegedly used for distributing liquor in exchange for votes for Kailash Vijayvargiya in 2013, was snatched from the driver by unknown persons.
The driver of the truck, who had also been called as a witness, is still absconding and a non-bailable arrest warrant has been issued against him by Justice Jarat Kumar Jain.The date for next hearing has been set for January 24, a day after Justice Jain will retire.
Ajay Saxena, the manager of the liquor shop, and Yogesh Gautam, owner of the shop, were also reported absconding by police while serving legal notices in the petition. Appearing before the court on Wednesday, Gautam denied he had any involvement with the liquor distribution claiming Saxena had dealt with the liquor and the truck.
In his defense, Saxena said he had handed over 200 crates of country made liquor to driver Soma Solanki at the distillery to be carried to the shop in Bitthan. According to Saxena's statements, Soma told him that the truck was looted on the way. Soma also lodged a report at the police station regarding this. But an investigation revealed no loot had taken place. "We told the court that the loot story is fabricated and the excise department had seized the truck and Soma had fled from the scene. Of the 200 crates, only 170 were seized by the excise department," Vibhor Khandelwal, petitioner's counsel, said. The petitioners also produced before the court Saxena's statement to excise police in 2013 which did not contain any mention of the loot. The spot from where the truck was seized near Ada Pahad was also far from the route between distillery and the liquor shop.
Another witness, Salim Quraishi, also testified before the court regarding the Moharram incident and said he was backstage and did not see what was happening in front. He also that they had set the stage for the Moharram programme but had not received any permission for the same.