PATIALA: Excise and taxation officials of Patiala have busted an illegal liquor manufacturing unit and recovered 20,000 litres of ENA as well as 43 boxes of illegal liquor in Rajpura of Patiala district.
On Tuesday evening, officials of the excise department conducted a raid and confiscated a tanker loaded with ENA at a temporary bottling plant near the Rajpura-Sirhind bypass.
Officials said the accused had stored empty bottles, caps, holograms, labels and ENA in large quantity at an illegal bottling plant, where they used to fill illegal liquor into bottles. These bottles were marked in the name of country-made liquor brands.
Excise officials claimed to have nabbed two persons while two others allegedly managed to escape. They said one of the accused nabbed on Tuesday was already booked under relevant sections of the IPC and Excise Act after an illegal manufacturing unit was busted this May.
In May, excise officials busted manufacturing units of illegal liquor at Ghanaur of Rajpura division in Patiala district where the bottles were filled with illegal liquor and labelled as top liquor brands. Politicians from opposition parties in Punjab demanded a high-level probe alleging links between ruling legislators in Patiala with the accused.
“We have nabbed two accused, including Dipesh Kumar, who was out on bail. He was earlier arrested when an illegal liquor manufacturing unit was busted in Ghanaur block and a huge amount of ENA was recovered with bottles, caps, holograms and labels of top liquor brands. This time, labels of country-made liquor were recovered in large quantity. The case is being registered at the local Rajpura police station and further investigation is underway,” said Rohit, an excise taxation officer in Patiala.