The police team probing the theft of rectified spirit from the State-owned Travancore Sugars and Chemicals Limited in Thiruvalla will soon be leaving for Madhya Pradesh to trace the routes through which the material was illegally diverted.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had sold the rectified spirit to a ‘desi liquor distilling racket’, which operates in and around the Sendhwa region in Barwani district. “The accused, however, do not seem to possess any vital information about this racket other than just a contact number. Against this backdrop, a police team will soon be leaving for the location to track down the details including that actual quantity of spirit sourced through the accused,” said Biju.V. Nair, Station House Officer, Pulikeezhu, who leads the investigation.
The police have already unearthed diversion of about 20,687 litres of rectified spirit from two trucks, which were transporting about 1.15 litres of the material to the State-owned company here. The theft came to light during a preliminary investigation by the Kerala Excise Department, which had also taken these drivers into custody.
Considering that about 15 truckloads of rectified spirit were being transported to the company here on a monthly basis, attempts are also on to ascertain the actual volume of spirit pilfered by the accused. “The accused truck drivers had been transporting spirit consignments for the company since February this year,” the official added.
Commenting on the episode, Venugopala Kurup, Excise Deputy Commissioner in Pathanamthitta, said the department had received a tip-off about the fraud and deployed a special team to monitor the trucks. “Besides unearthing the pilferage, cash worth around ₹10 lakh, received allegedly from the black marketing of the material, too was recovered from these drivers,” he said.
Based on information collected from the accused drivers, identified as Nandakumar and Sijo Thomas, the excise also took one Arun Kumar, a company official, into custody. The police, which then took over the case, arraigned four more persons, including three company officials identified as general manager Alex.P. Abraham, personal manager Shehim and production manager Megha Murali, as accused in the case.
Meanwhile, a probe is also on to trace Abu, a Madhya Pradesh native who allegedly acted as a middleman in the deal.
According to the police, the accused truck drivers, acting on a direction from Arun Kumar, had helped Abu to siphon off 20,687 litres of spirit kept inside the tanker trucks. In pilfering the liquid, they also sought the help of some experts to break the e-lock system on these trucks, which are designed to raise an alarm if operated outside the geo-fenced spot.
Travancore Sugars and Chemicals Limited is engaged in the manufacture of Indian Made Foreign Liquor.