Surat: From papad and vegetables to pickle jars, broken furniture and even condoms, police stations across Gujarat are grappling with the challenge of storing everyday items in accordance with the rules on seized property or “muddamal” for criminal investigations.At Palsana police station in Surat district the problem is severe. A truck loaded with rice papad is now under CCTV surveillance.Palsana, at the junction of NH 48, NH 53 and National Expressway 4, is a frequent interception point for police. With a flood of prohibition-related cases leading to long-term custody of vehicles and contraband, officers say the police station is under severe space pressure.Surat Rural police’s local crime branch recently seized 2.5 tonnes of poppy husk, worth Rs 3.75 crore, hidden behind bags of rice papad in a truck.While the poppy husk now takes up storage space at the police station, the papad bags are stored outside, inside the truck, under the eyes of CCTV cameras.Police officers said procedure requires seized property to be preserved until court directions are received, particularly if someone later claims ownership of legitimate goods. If no claimant emerges, police seek court permission for disposal.Surat superintendent of police Rajesh Gadhiya said storage constraints are a major concern, especially in Palsana, where seizures are frequent. He said police have destroyed large quantities of seized liquor to make room for impounded property.Ahmedabad police records show muddamal can range from quilts and mattresses to broken household furniture and condoms, as anything linked to an offence or recovered during a raid must be inventoried and preserved.A prevention of crime branch gambling raid on a New Ranip flat on Monday yielded a seizure memo that included four mattresses and an aluminium tub. The main haul was Rs 3.55 lakh in cash, 10 mobile phones, two four-wheelers and a two-wheeler, for a total value of seized property of Rs 38.15 lakh. Though the mattresses and tub were assigned zero value, they still required documentation and storage.During a June 24 prohibition raid in Narol, police seized liquor worth Rs 28.24 lakh and a Tata 710 vehicle. The seizure memo also listed 20 pieces of old and broken furniture, including tables, chairs and a wooden settee, each assigned zero value.A raid by the State Monitoring Cell on four spas on SG Highway on Saturday added another unlikely entry to the muddamal register: a packet containing eight condoms.In Vadodara, railway police recently encountered what officers described as a “pickle trouble” case after seizing cannabis allegedly concealed beneath a few kilograms of mango pickle. A railway police officer said both the narcotics and the pickle jar had to be stored as evidence before the edible item was eventually disposed of.Vadodara police said they often intercept vehicles in which liquor is hidden behind vegetables, requiring documentation before perishable goods can be disposed of. Officers also recalled a case in which iron machinery parts used to conceal liquor had to be retained as evidence.A June 21 gambling raid in Dariapur produced another eclectic seizure list: cash, mobile phones, an autorickshaw and a motorcycle, along with 102 playing cards, 40 card packs, a chessboard with pieces and 270 plastic tokens. Traditional bedding items such as a “shetarangi” and “dhorso” were also listed, highlighting the wide range of objects that enter the chain of evidence.(With inputs from Ashish Chauhan and Tushar Tere)
