A Haryana police and the excise department team on Tuesday raided a liquor shop operating under the name “Theka” in Gurugram and recovered nearly 42,000 bottles of foreign alcohol allegedly smuggled into India, estimated to be worth ₹10 crore in the black market.
Deputy excise and taxation commissioner Amit Bhatia said that this is the largest illegal stock of foreign liquor ever seized in Haryana. He added that more raids and arrests are expected as the investigation progresses.
Officials said the seized stock was smuggled into India without paying customs or excise duty. They added that none of the bottles carried the mandatory Haryana excise hologram, confirming that the consignment was entirely illegal.
Alcohol bottles of premium international brands retailing between ₹5,000 and ₹1.5 lakh per bottle were recovered. Officials believe the liquor was routed through airports using organised smuggling channels and sold at high margins to premium customers in Gurugram.
Bhatia said his team grew suspicious during routine checks when several bottles were found without holograms. “Upon inspecting the entire premises, we recovered 3,921 cartons of foreign liquor — each containing 6 to 12 bottles — along with 176 loose bottles. All stock has been seized. An FIR [first information report] has been registered, and further investigation is underway,” he said.
Officials said that the government had issued a liquor licence for an outlet to a man identified as Surinder Singh after he deposited a licence fee of ₹44 crore this year. The operator allegedly used the legitimate licence as a cover to sell large quantities of smuggled liquor. Under excise rules, the shop may now face sealing, licence cancellation, and forfeiture of deposited fees.
{{/usCountry}}Officials said that the government had issued a liquor licence for an outlet to a man identified as Surinder Singh after he deposited a licence fee of ₹44 crore this year. The operator allegedly used the legitimate licence as a cover to sell large quantities of smuggled liquor. Under excise rules, the shop may now face sealing, licence cancellation, and forfeiture of deposited fees.
{{/usCountry}}Excise officials said the illicit sales caused crores in revenue loss to the state. They cited questioning of employees and said the outlet routinely generated ₹50–60 lakh in daily sales, catering primarily to high-profile customers seeking expensive imported brands. The shop owner reportedly fled as soon as news of the raid spread.
Preliminary inquiries suggest links between smuggling networks operating across Delhi, Haryana, and Rajasthan.
Officials said the illegal trade is increasingly masked under the guise of duty-free purchases and online channels, calling for stricter enforcement across borders