Bhubaneswar: Six persons were detained by the Excise department on charges of adulteration following a raid conducted at an authorised (licensed) Indian-Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) shop in Baramunda area here, Monday. Sources in the Excise department said that the suspects, working as salesmen at the shop, would add water to liquor in bottles by removing seals, before repacking, and sell those to unsuspecting customers. “They were doing it for extra profit,” sources said, adding that the accused persons procured counterfeit bottle caps and Excise department stickers to carry out the adulteration and con act. A senior Excise official said that earlier the department sleuths had come across samples of liquor bottle caps, holograms and other features which were different from those used in original brands.
Acting on the information, an Excise department team Monday first conducted a raid at the place where the staff of the shop were staying and found several caps and Excise stickers (adhesives). Thereafter, they raided the shop and detected the same cap and labels on several liquor bottles, the official added. Following the findings, the Excise department collected samples from the remaining bottles and sent those to a laboratory for tests. Moreover, the stock inside the shop said to be around Rs 40 lakh, was destroyed using an earthmover, while the shop was sealed.
Sources said the licensee, Mukul Kumar, a resident of Jharkhand, has been summoned for questioning. The senior Excise official said that further action against the shop would be decided following questioning of the licensee, and outcome of the lab tests. He said a customer (or anyone) can check the authenticity of the liquor sold at liquor shops by scanning the QR code which will then show the serial number of the bottle, brand and quantity. “We are also carrying out surprise checks at all licensed shops,” the official said.