The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Delhi Government on Monday arrested two officials of the Delhi Excise Department in connection with the case of evasion of excise duty in the supply and sale of IMFl (Indian-Made Foreign liquor) and foreign liquor. According to Additional Commissioner of Police PC Hota (ACB), a source had developed the information about a nexus between the department officials and distillery owners, which led to a huge loss causing to the Government exchequer. Different teams of ACB officials were constituted and surveillance was mounted at various points, including some of the liquor bonded warehouses of the city.
“Surveillance and discreet enquiry by the teams of ACB revealed that the liquor stock for sale in Delhi and destined for the bonded warehouses were offloaded into several smaller tempos without actually going into bonded warehouses as per the laid-down procedure,” Hota said. The teams secretly followed the tempos and trucks and intercepted them at various points. Some of the tempos with liquor stock were intercepted after they had delivered their stock in various liquor outlets in trans-Yamuna area. The liquor transport vehicles after their inspection could not produce the approved transport permit and it was also revealed that the stocks were delivered in the retail outlets without proper recording and documentation of stock supply, the Additional CP added.
The department was thereafter involved in the stock taking of the illegal liquor stocks intercepted at various points and godowns and during this process, around 1200 boxes containing liquor bottles were seized. A case under the section 13(1) (d) POC Act r/w 468/471/120-B of Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been lodged. The excise duty evasion of the seized liquor in the case is around Rs7 lakh, Hota said.
The official also said that since the bonded ware houses located at Rama Road Industrial Estate, Moti Nagar are having storage of huge amount of liquor crates, the stock taking is still being carried out to ascertain about their bona fide.