HYDERABAD: Two accused who were bringing in Rs 6 crore worth non-duty paid foreign liquor into Hyderabad, from other States, were caught by Telangana Prohibition and Excise department. One of the accused Harish Singh from Dhoolpet has been absconding since 2014. The other accused Shiva Patil was caught on Thursday.
After four-month long operation by the department’s State Task Force(STF), Harish was caught along with six people on Sunday. After the department personnel crackdown on a racket which bought foreign liquor from duty-free shops at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport, Shamshabad, the two alleged kingpins started to get more liquor from Chennai airport and seaport through a person named Manikyam.
Premium scotch, whisky, wine, vodka was packed in luggage bags which were stuffed on four sides with cotton. The key accused used private transport buses to transport their consignments from Chennai to capital city of Telangana. On Saturday, one such consignment (220 bottles of various quantities) worth around `50 lakh, were seized by assistant excise superintendent K Pavan Kumar, along with TSF-Team b and Malakpet and Quthbullapur Excise Police.
“Harish Singh was absconding from July-2014 and he was caught on Sunday after an operation launched in October-2017. In a month, they used to sell 600 to 800 non-duty paid foreign liquor worth `50 lakh. Buses which were used to transport the liquor were seized,” said Akun Sabharwal, director of the Excise department’s Enforcement wing, at a press conference held here on Sunday.
The two accused used to buy and pass it to others who used to sell it to customers.
Those who buy will be booked too
If a person buys around 10 bottles of non-duty paid foreign liquor in bulk from the key accused, they save around Rs 8,000 to Rs 10,000. However, you would get three to 10 years of punishment if you land in the Telangana Prohibition and Excise department’s dragnet.
Director of the department’s Enforcement wing Akun Sabharwal said that cases can be booked, if anyone buys non-duty paid foreign liquor from people like the two accused. “We request people not to take or buy liquor from such people,” he said at a press conference held here on Sunday.
Harish Singh was always on move
One of the two kingpins, Harish Singh who eluded the Excise department’s sleuths for three-and-half-years used to change his home every six-months within Hyderabad and even his children did not know about his address, sources said. “He used to be cautious when he had to step out of home. He used to ensure
that there is no police or suspicious people around and then made a move. He used multiple phones and never used one phone number for long time,” sources said.