The Maharashtra Excise unearthed a major racket involved in the packing and sale of duplicate liqour in Goa when sleuths from the neighbouring State raided a video shop at Khareband-Margao on Sunday morning, only to find duplicate liqour, unused bottles and caps, besides empty boxes in the parlour, valued around Rs five lakh.
After today’s operation, the Excise sleuths arrested three persons, including the main accused Pawan Gandhi (36), Jeetendra Devendra Singh and Sunny Naresh Rajput, taking the number of persons arrested in the racket to five. They are now looking for one Pandey, who is believed to be the key man involved in dispatching the duplicate liqour consignment to Mumbai by trains, besides one Jeetu. Excise officials suspected the involvement of 2-4 more persons in the racket, adding that they will go to the bottom of the racket to lay their hands on the brain behind the manufacturing of duplicate liqour and smuggling to Mumbai by trains.
The Maharashtra Excise sleuths achieved the breakthrough at Khareband after the arrest of two persons at Thana-Mumbai earlier this week revealed that duplicate liqour was being packed in a video parlour at Khareband and the consignments dispatched to Mumbai on trains. The Maharashtra Excise had on March 4 arrested two persons, Ravindra Mishra (35) and a native of Nepal, Laxman Thapa with a consignment of liqour at Thana.
Empty bottles of Royal stag, Antiquity Blue were found inside the parlour. The accused bottled these branded liqour with low brand local liqour and sent them to Mumbai by trains. “Only when the four accused persons are arrested and interrogated in police custody, we will get to know the extent of the duplicate liqour racket carried out by the accused”, informed Maharashtra Excise official Subhash Jadav.
Jadav said that 43 boxes of liqour, worth Rs 2.58 lakh have been seized during the raid, besides 38 unused caps of Signature, unused empty bottles and boxes. “We will inquire how the accused laid their hands on the boxes of branded liqour companies”, Jadav said, adding around 2000 empty bottles were seized during the raid.
Replying to a question, Jadhav said around 30-35 Excise sleuths drawn from Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg and Kholapur have joined investigations into duplicate liqour racket. “The Goa police rendered all possible help and assistance in the investigations into the racket”, he said.
Meanwhile, local Khareband resident Mahesh Amonkar, who owns the Mavjyot Video shop, said he had leased out the premises, to Pawan Gandhi.
Amonkar, who is running a wholesale liqour business, adjacent to the video shop, said he has handed over the lease agreement to the Maharashtra police along with other documents. “I have nothing to do with the illegal activity. The shop was leased out by me to Gandhi on a fixed rent”, he said.
