Rourkela: As part of ongoing drive against transport of liquor, cash and intoxicating substances for general elections, Excise officials have seized duplicate India Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) worth more than Rs 4 lakh and arrested one person in this connection in Odisha’s Sundargarh district.
As per reports, the Excise department in Rourkela received reliable information about production and sale of duplicate IMFL at Bhangadihi village under Bonaigarh police station in the district. A special team of Excise officials led by Deputy Superintendent of Excise (DSE) Archana Barik conducted a raid on the village on Tuesday.
During the raid, the team found that liquor bottles were being loaded from a car to a Scooty in an open field of the village. The Excise officials nabbed one Balabhadra Patra from the spot and seized the duplicate IMFL bottles worth more than Rs 4 lakh.
During questioning Balabhadra, the kingpin of the racket, revealed that he was procuring the duplicate liquor from Jharkhand. After mixing some chemicals and synthetic colour, he was bottling the liquor. The bottles were sealed with caps of different reputed IMFL brands and pasted with the labels.
He was supplying the spurious liquor bottles to different dhabas and hotels in Sundargarh and Deogarh districts. The Excise team has also seized the empty bottles, labels of reputed liquor brands and stickers during the raid.
The DSE said Balabhadra has been arrested in connection with duplicate liquor trade several times earlier. He used to return to the trade every time he came out on bail from the jail, she added.
