NINE BOOKED AS 5,500 LIQUOR BOXES GO MISSING IN SONEPAT

ROHTAK: Five police personnel and four liquor traders were booked under the Excise and Taxation Act after 5,500 boxes of liquor went missing from a godown in Sonepat’s Kharkhauda.

Around 1,400 boxes of illicit liquor were also recovered from the same godown, police said on Wednesday.

The accused liquor traders have been identified as Bhupinder, his brother Jitender, Satish Kumar and Saneep of Sonepat district.

Besides registering a case against five cops for their alleged role in the matter, the police have also suspended two former Kharkhauda SHOs — Arun Kumar and Jasvir Singh.

Sonepat SP Jashandeep Randhawa said that last year, the chief minister’s flying squad had recovered a huge quantity of liquor from a godown belonging to Bhupinder in Kharkhauda.

“Instead of storing the seized liquor at some other place, the cops then incharge kept it at Bhupinder’s godown. During the lockdown period, some cops along with the traders sold the said seized liquor. We are probing the role of former and current Kharkhauda SHOs, other police officials and excise officials in this scam,” the SP said, adding that a special investigation team has been formed to investigate.