Police bust illicit liquor racket in Haryana's Ambala, 1 held

AMBALA: The Ambala police on Friday late night seized a huge quantity of illicit Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) from two godowns in Mandour village of the district after the information that it was being smuggled to the Gujarat and Rajasthan. A truck has also been seized. A man, native of Gujarat, has been arrested in this connection.
According to the police, initially, a truck was confiscated and about 150 boxes of illicit liquor under limits of Panjokhra police station on Friday night. The investigation led the police to the two godowns in Mandour village where the illicit liquor bottles of many known brands were stored in huge quantity.
Ambala superintendent of police (SP) Rajesh Kalia inspected the two godowns on Saturday.
SP Rajesh said, “The owner of the godowns was called on the spot, on the basis of information given by him, a case has been registered against an accused of Gujarat, who took the property on lease.”
The SP said now the station house officers (SHO) of the district have been instructed to prepare a list of godowns in their areas to ascertain activities being carried in those properties, verify and check their rent agreements to prevent and detect any illegal activity.
Taking cognizance of the matter, Ambala deputy commissioner (DC) Ashok Kumar Sharma on Saturday formed a team to investigate liquor smuggling in the district, which is headed by Ambala City sub-division magistrate (SDM) Sachin Gupta and Ambala headquarters deputy superintendent of police (DSP), DSP Ambala Cantt, and district excise and taxation commissioner (DETC) will be the members.
Ambala DC Ashok said, “Action will be taken as per law against those found involved in liquor smuggling.” However, distillery from where the liquor has been brought to the godowns is yet to be identified by the teams.
Till the time of writing the report, about 10,000 liquor bottles were counted and the process was ongoing in Mandour village.
Meanwhile, on Saturday, on the complaint of Panjokhra SHO sub-inspector Mohan Lal, accused Nikhil A Patel of Gujarat has been booked at Panjokhra police station.
A case has been registered against accused Nikhil A Patel at Panjokhra police station on Saturday.
Panjokhra SHO SI Mohan told, “The liquor is being smuggled under the guise of aloe vera extract. We are still counting the stock, in cooperation with the excise and taxation department officials.”