Varanasi: A liquor trader from Lucknow was allegedly threatened in the name of fugitive codeine cough syrup smuggling syndicate kingpin Shubham Jaiswal, held captive, assaulted and fired upon after he demanded payment of Rs 8.66 lakh in outstanding dues from two liquor shops in Varanasi.Shubham’s jailed aide Vaibhav Jaiswal allegedly targeted the manager when he demanded payment of dues owed by liquor shops being run in the name of Vaibhav’s mother, Radhika, and wife, Shivangi.DCP Varuna zone Pramod Kumar on Thursday said that on the complaint of Arvind Kumar Jaiswal, a resident of Lucknow’s Jankipuram and manager of a liquor firm, an FIR had been registered at Manduadih police station against Vaibhav, who has been lodged in district jail since April, his wife and his mother.Manduadih police station in charge Digambar Upadhyaya said that in his complaint, Arvind stated that his firm supplies liquor in Varanasi and Lucknow. Regular supplies of liquor were made to shops run by Shivangi and Radhika. Payments were initially made regularly, but later dues of over Rs 8.66 lakh accumulated. Of this, over Rs 2.66 lakh was outstanding against Radhika’s shop and over Rs 6 lakh against Shivangi’s shop. The complainant also submitted documentary evidence in support of his firm’s claims.Arvind alleged that when he demanded payment, Vaibhav began delaying it and threatened him by claiming links with Shubham. Vaibhav allegedly warned that Arvind would face consequences if he demanded the dues or stopped supplies. Arvind told police that on March 25, Vaibhav called him near the water tank at Chaukaghat, where Shivangi and Radhika were also present. He was allegedly held captive and beaten there. The next day, when he tried to escape, Vaibhav allegedly fired at him with the intent to kill, but he survived.Upadhyaya said that the allegations levelled by Arvind against Vaibhav were being investigated.Vaibhav looked after the hawala trade of Shubham, who is still out of reach of police in the multi-crore codeine cough syrup smuggling case. Shubham and his jailed father, Bhola Prasad Jaiswal, were laundering black money earned from cough syrup through the liquor business as well. Bhola obtained English liquor shops in the names of women, including Vaibhav’s mother and wife, through the lottery system.Vaibhav used to transfer the income generated from these liquor shops to Shubham through hawala. While investigating various bank statements and documents, investigators of Kotwali police station and the SIT also detected that through an association of persons, Shubham determined his share of the profits from six English liquor shops. Cops found that Shubham had also formed a syndicate in the liquor trade by incorporating persons from different trades.
