Excise dept busts liquor factory

DHANBAD: An Excise Department team on Friday busted an illicit liquor factory in the Jodhadih area of Govindpur block in Dhanbad, recovering 20 cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL), along with 30 litres of spirit, officials said.

Sanjay Kumar Mehta, assistant excise commissioner of Dhanbad, said, “Given the upcoming Holi celebration and Elections, a raid was conducted on Friday at the instruction of Mahavi Mishra, Dhanbad deputy commissioner, and HP Janardhanan, Dhanbad SSP, at the house of Vikas Sahni, where a mini factory of illicit liquor was busted.”

“We recovered altogether 180 liters of liquor of different brands in 20 cases, including Blenders Pride, McDowell’s, Imperial Blue, Royal Stag, and Sterling 20 ml during the raid, and recovered other articles including 15 sackfuls of empty bottles, corks, stickers of different brands during the raids,” said Mehta, adding that the factory operator, Vikas Sahni, who fled before the arrival of the police, has previously been booked 3-4 times for similar offences and is currently absconding.

“The estimated market price of the seized liquor is around ₹82,026,” said Mehta, adding that the seized liquor was meant to be sold during Holi.

“Based on the previous activities and history of Vikas Sahni, we would also request the government to impose the Crime Control Act against him and his nephew Kartik Sahni, as both of them have been involved in the illicit liquor trade for a long time. While Vikas Sahni was involved in manufacturing liquor, Kartik Sahni was involved in its sale,” Mehta said.

“We also conducted raids at the house of Ajay Paswan in the Putki Police station area of Dhanbad, during which 20 litres of liquor were seized,” he added.

He said that 1,000 litres of liquor have been seized during the raids conducted across the district in the last two months.

1,000 LITRES OF LIQUOR HAVE BEEN SEIZED DURING THE RAIDS CONDUCTED ACROSS DHANBAD IN THE LAST TWO MONTHS