Chandigarh, July 24:
Cracking down on illicit liquor trading and smuggling in the state, the Excise Department got a major breakthrough on Thursday late evening to seize the biggest ever cache of 5500 litres of illicit spirit during a raid.
Divulging the details, a spokesperson of the Excise & Taxation department said that its special team from Mohali seized heavy quantity of 5500 litres of spirit from 26 drums of 200 litres capacity each and 6 drums of 50 litres capacity each. The seizure was made from village Devinagar, Tehsil Derabassi in Mohali District. During the raid conducted at the premises of the M/s Binni Chemicals godown, a Mahindra Bolero PB 65 Z 7657 was also impounded.
The spokesperson further revealed that the owner of the godown Rajesh Kumar alias Bobby, R/o 202, GH 2, Sector-2, Panchkula, was neither able to produce any document with regard to the spirit nor did he possess licence of its storage and sale. A communiqué has already been sent to the SDM Derabassi in this regard for initiating necessary action.
The owner, two labourers Mahesh Kumar R/o Pokhroha and Ajay Kumar R/o village Chakaiyya in Bihar, were arrested from the spot. A case no. 0228 on July 23, 2020 u/s 61/1/14 of the Punjab Excise Act was registered against the accused at Police Station Derabassi.
During the interrogation, the accused confessed that he had started the sale of spirit during the period of lockdown and he was also selling spirit to the manufacturers of sanitizer. Investigations are in progress to trace further links of the accused in the case.
The spokesperson further added that the firm raided by the excise team was on its radar and under constant surveillance for past few days. The investigation revealed that the firm was also involved in the illicit sale of various types of acids besides spirit without any licence.
