VIJAYAWADA: Police on Wednesday seized liquor allegedly smuggled from neighbouring Telangana in a car belonging to a Trust Board Committee member of Goddess Kanaka Durga temple.
As many as 280 liquor bottles were seized from the car, which was parked in an apartment parking space near the residence of the Trust Board member, Ch Venkata Naga Varalakshmi.
The Trust Board member, however, feigned ignorance and said she handed over the vehicle to her driver to fill diesel.
Jaggaiahpet circle inspector P Chandrasekhara Rao told The New Indian Express that on a tip off, a team of police personnel raided the apartment parking space and seized the liquor bottles from the car bearing registration number AP 16 BV 5577. The value of the seized liquor is estimated to be around `40,000.
Police, in their preliminary investigation, came to know that the liquor was procured from Telangana and smuggled into the state.
“We have taken the car driver, Suri Babu, into custody. We are also investigating the role of the car owner,” Chandrasekhar said, adding a case under relevant sections of the Andhra Pradesh Excise (Amendment) Act 2020 was registered.
Responding to the incident, Varalakshmi said that she had no idea about the liquor seized from her car.
“I have received a call from Jaggaiahpet police informing me about the seizure of illegal liquor bottles from my car. We don’t have a designated parking space at my house and we hired a paid parking facility in a nearby apartment. As usual, I gave money to my car driver to fill fuel and parked it at the spot. But all of sudden, the police informed us about the seizure of illegal liquor. We won’t encourage such practices,” the trust board committee member claimed.