E-Paper
4 arrested for supplying spurious liquor in Fatehgarh Sahib
The accused were supplying and filling cheap smuggled alcohol into empty bottles of expensive foreign liquor brands; two cars were intercepted in Fatehgarh Sahib
The Punjab excise department along with the local police has busted an organised module of liquor smugglers involved in supplying and filling cheap smuggled alcohol into empty bottles of expensive foreign liquor brands and has arrested four persons in connection with the crime, the excise officials said on Saturday.
Joint excise commissioner Naresh Dubey said that secret information was received that an organised gang was involved in smuggling cheap liquor from Chandigarh into Punjab and fill it in bottles of expensive scotch brands.
On receiving information that one of the accused Kundan Visht of Chandigarh will be supplying fake liquor along with his gang members, the teams of special operations group of the excise department and police barricaded the area near Khamano in Fatehgarh Sahib and intercepted two cars on Thursday.
Four members of the gang, including Kundan, Harshwardan Parshad of Ambala, Pradeep Singh of Narayangarh in Haryana and Jasmin Kaur of Sangrur were arrested. The teams also recovered 4 cases of chivas regal, 4 cases of glenlivet and 2 cases of gold label reserve from their possession.
An FIR has been registered against the accused under various sections of the IPC and the Punjab Excise Act.
Excise commissioner Varun Roojam reiterated that the Punjab government has zero tolerance policy as far as smuggling of liquor or any illegal activity relating to excise is concerned. He said that action would be taken as per law against the accused.
During interrogation, the gang members revealed that they smuggle cheap liquor from Chandigarh and fill it in expensive scotch empty bottles at the rented residence of Pardeep and Jasmin in Madanpur of Mohali district.
During the raid at their residence, police among other foreign brands recovered 2 cases of high speed, 2 cases of king gold, 1 case of U.K. no. 1, 150 empty bottles of U.K. no. 1, 21 empty bottles of high speed whisky, 14 empty bottles of blue label, 5 cartons of glenlivet, 2 cartons of black dog gold, 1 carton of glenfiddich 15 years and caps of glenlivet, glenfiddich & black label brands.
The accused also admitted that they buy empty bottles of foreign liquor brands from different scrap dealers of Mohali and Ludhiana, who are also involved in this racket.
