3,600 bottles of illegal liquor seized from Narela restaurant in Delhi

An excise official explained that after the 2021-22 excise policy was scrapped, and licences issued under it expired, the liquor stock was immobilised, which means that it could no longer be sold legally

Delhi Police’s crime branch officers on Thursday raided a restaurant-bar near Narela Industrial Complex in outer Delhi and seized 3,600 bottles of alcohol, allegedly the leftover stock procured under the now-scrapped excise policy 2021-22, officers involved in the raid said on Friday.

All the bottles seized in the raid were labelled “For Sale in Delhi Only”.

An excise official explained that after the 2021-22 excise policy was scrapped, and licences issued under it expired, the liquor stock was immobilised, which means that it could no longer be sold legally. “It is illegal to sell the leftover stock. A licensee is supposed to get fresh stock for sale. The old stock has to be returned to the excise department or destroyed,” the official said.

According to police officers, the bottles were stored illegally at the Thekka Junction Restro Bar, Narela, to be sold in the grey market. All the bottles seized in the raid were labelled “For Sale in Delhi Only”.

A senior officer said they got a tipoff that some people involved in the sale of illegal liquor were going to meet in Alipur area. A police team arrested Yogendra Kumar, 23, from a dhaba with some bottles of liquor.

“Yogendra told the police about the illegal stock that was stored at the restaurant. A police team raided the restaurant and its godown and seized 182 cartons containing alcohol bottles of different brands. The owner of the restaurant is absconding,” said special commissioner of police (crime) Ravindra Singh Yadav.