Jamshedpur : A team of State Excise Department and police on Tuesday seized huge stock of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) by conducting raid at a house at Domjuri village under Parsudih police station area, here on Tuesday. A total of 68 cartons of IMFL bottles were seized from a rented room of a house.
The liquor stock seized were of popular brands like Royal Stag, and OC Blue and the estimated cost of the total stock was worth Rs 3 lakh. Sources informed that on each of the bottles was written �To be sold in Haryana only�.
Excise inspector Ajay Kumar who led the joint raid said that Uday Chaudhury who possessed a liquor shop in Govindpur in the city was involved in the smuggling of the IMFL bottles. The accused liquor trader who escaped arrest was supposed to supply the liquor bottles in unauthorised way in the dhabas, small hotels and other such places.
Notably, this was the fourth time that the Excise department made such raid ever since the sale of liquor started from the government-run outlet on August 1.
Earlier, the sale of liquor was being carried out through about 100 the licensed shops across the steel city, but from August 1, the liquor being sold by Jharkhand State Beverage Corporation Ltd (JSBCL). Initially, the JSBCL had introduced 25 outlets for the liquor sale in the city, but now the number of outlets has gone up to 60.
Assistant excise commissioner, Manoj Kumar said the liquor stock which was seized from Domjuri village today was illegal.
�Illicit liquor is a hugely profitable industry where bootleggers pay no taxes and sell enormous quantities of their product. There is a need to restrict extensive abuse of the intoxicant in order to reduce untoward incidents in the society. Moreover, most of the hotels are not adhering to the rules while serving foreign liquor in lavish parties. Continuous raids must be carried against illegal distilleries especially in view of the forthcoming festive season later this year,� noted another official.
Notably, the steel city has a history of manufacturing of duplicate liquor as the district police had in the past busted several rackets of duplicate liquor manufacturing units, especially from the localities like Bagbera, Jugsalai and Kadma.