Jamshedpur : Acting tough against the sale of illegal liquor in the city, the excise department has recovered large quantities of illicit foreign and country-made liquor from a shop at Sakchi vegetable market on Monday.
Assistant commissioner of excise Rakesh Kumar said that in a raid conducted at a shop in vegetable market near Shitala Mandir, the authorities seized 280 pouches of spurious country-made liquor and 68 litres of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) kept inside the shop which was unauthorised.
Officials informed that the State Excise Department has initiated a stringent drive against illegally manufactured illicit country-made liquor in the city. Sources informed that the department kicked off the drive in order to check the substantial revenue loss to the state exchequer.
The team also arrested three persons, which include shop-owner Manoj Bajpayee, who is also one of the priests serving the Shitala Mandir. This apart those arrested were the consumers of liquor.
Kumar said that the raid was carried out on the basis of a complaint by a section of shop keepers at Sakchi Vegetable market.
The department will send the samples of both IMFL and the country-made liquor to a Ranchi-based laboratory for testing whether the stuff being sold at the Sakchi vegetable market was fit for human consumption.
He stated that the surprise inspection will continue even during the night and if any shop-owner is found selling the duplicate liquor, then he will stand to face the music.
At Jamshedpur there are 98 Indian Make Foreign Liquor (IMFL) licensed shops, 51 country-made liqour shop and 15 spicy liquor shops.
Notably, the steel city has a history of manufacturing of duplicate liquor as the district police had in the past busted several racket of duplicate liquor manufacturing units, especially from the localities like Bagbera, Jugsalai and Kadma.