Spurious whiskies with tinge of apple flavour

Vadodara: Pure alcohol or cheap whisky, a soft drink and water is all that is needed to make duplicate liquors of prominent brands. And, a particular soft drink brand has come handy as it gives a taste much like the original brand.
When Dahod police raided a ‘mini factory’ duplicating the Royal Stag brand in Khatarpurna Muvada village of Fatepura taluka last week, they came across 5,300 bottles of the brand apart from caps, labels and cartons in which the bottles were packed. Drums of a chemical were also recovered from the spot along with bottles of the soft drink Appy Fizz.

Investigations in the last couple of days have revealed that the barrels contained ethyl alcohol or ethanol that was used even by liquor factories. The alcohol was mixed with water and the soft drink to make a heady mix that was passed on as whiskey.

Police sub-inspector P B Jadav of the Dahod crime branch said the investigations had revealed that the alcohol was smuggled in from Rajasthan. “We are ascertaining form where was it sent. It seems that the alcohol was stolen from tankers ferrying it,” said Jadav. Jadav said that the soft drink was mixed with the alcohol as the mix that emerged had a taste close to the original whisky.

Sources said that Dahod was not the only place where the bootleggers were using the tactics to make duplicate whisky at cheap rates and then passing it on as original. At other places cheap Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) was being mixed with the soft drink and water and filled in bottles of popular whiskey brands.

Jadav said that with the police tightening the noose around the liquor trade, duplication was being done at the unit in Khatarpurna Muvada. Earlier too, the police have busted rackets of making duplicate IMFL elsewhere in central Gujarat.