Sonipat missing liquor scam: Kingpin held, say cops

CHANDIGARH: The SIT probing the Sonipat missing liquor scam has arrested main accused Bhupinder Singh, claiming that he was the kingpin of the entire racket. The Sonipat court gave police four day remand of Bhupinder.
Meanwhile, the investigations seem to be making startling revelations about the excise and taxation department’s handling of the godown in Kharkhoda area of Sonipat from where the over 9,500 cases of liquor went missing during the lockdown.
When contacted, Sonipat SP Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said the investigating officer had sought 10 day remand for Bhupinder Singh. “We need the remand to trace the delivery chain of Bhupinder Singh. Besides this, we want to ascertain the involvement of policemen as well as excise officials into the racket. Bhupinder is also accused of changing the labels of liquor bottles,” said Randhawa.
“His questioning is in progress and we are hopeful of reaching all culprits involved of this rackets. So far as further arrests are concerned, these will be made after we substantiate Bhupinder’s statement with the evidences,” the SP added. Sources said, Bhupinder surrendered before the Kharkhoda police late on Saturday night. Earlier in the day, the SIT and Chandigarh police had raided his Sector 50 Chandigarh flat.
The investigations revealed that the excise department had initially seized the illegal liquor from that place and registered a case against Bhupinder. This place was owned by Bhupinder Singh’s wife and the department allegedly handed over the keys to Bhupinder’s relative Harish Kumar, sources claimed. The godown was under guard by Kharkhoda police station cops.
SP Randhawa admitted that Harish was one of the main accused of the case. “We have already taken action against all those policemen who had been deployed or had been associated with the deployment at godown. We shall certainly arrest the guilty after we have sufficient evidences. We have put two SHOs, two munshi head constables, two head constables and a constable under scanner for this purpose,” said Randhawa.
Senior officials of taxation and excise department refused to comment. “Investigations are in progress and a state-level probe has also begin. We don’t rule out the involvement of our persons or alleged wrongs but let the investigations go on and truth will come out,” a senior official said. He, however, also questioned the role of police and asked how stock had gone missing when building was under police watch.
Last week, Sonipat police had registered the case after it was noted that around 9,500 cases of IMFL of various brands had gone missing from the godown under the excise and taxation department custody.