Excise inspector suspended over illegal liquor factory in Greater Noida

Four persons were also arrested from Sector Alpha 2 in Greater Noida on Friday for their alleged involvement in making illegal liquor in a makeshift factory. They suspects were identified as Manoj Joshi (the mastermind), 30, Suhail Uddin, 28, Abhishek (goes by his first name), 27, and Govind (goes by his first name), 25.

An excise inspector was suspended on Sunday over dereliction of duty, two days after a fake liquor factory was busted in Sector Alpha 2 in Greater Noida. The inspector, Pramod Sonkar, was posted in Circle 5 (as per the excise department) in Greater Noida.

Police along with an excise team has recovered 456 bottles of illegal liquor, a liquor drum. (Santosh Kumar/HT file photo. Representative image)

RB Singh, district excise officer, Gautam Budh Nagar, said that the excise department has launched an internal inquiry into the matter. “We have submitted a report to the excise commissioner, Senthil Pandian C, who has suspended Sonkar for dereliction of duty on Sunday. Sonkar should have been on patrolling duty in the area, and he was supposed to take action against the illegal factory... We had also received complaints against him, that some liquor kiosks in his area of duty were overcharging customers on liquor bottles. These issues led to his suspension,” Singh said.

Four persons were also arrested from Sector Alpha 2 in Greater Noida on Friday for their alleged involvement in making illegal liquor in a makeshift factory. They suspects were identified as Manoj Joshi (the mastermind), 30, Suhail Uddin, 28, Abhishek (goes by his first name), 27, and Govind (goes by his first name), 25.

Police along with an excise team has recovered 456 bottles of illegal liquor, a liquor drum, 1,056 wrappers of ‘Miss India’ brand, 7kg urea, 72 empty bottles, two mugs, some equipment, and ₹16,700 from the possession of the four arrested men. Joshi had engaged other people in the illegal liquor manufacturing, according to the police.

Singh said, “The suspects used to buy liquor at cheap rates from Haryana, and then adulterate them in Greater Noida. They then put fake wrappers on new bottles and sold them to the customers. They also made fake brand wrappers of ‘Miss India’ liquor.”

In January 2021, six persons had died, and 15 others had fallen unwell after consuming spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr. However, this latest incident has no connection to the Bulandshahr case, according to the Noida excise department and the Sector Beta 2 police.

Meanwhile, the excise department has formed seven patrolling teams to intensify the watch on illegal liquor manufacturing in the district, said the officials.