Aman Sood
Patiala, November 8
The Patiala police have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the “nexus of authorised liquor vend owners” smuggling liquor meant for sale in Punjab to poll-bound Gujarat.
Three excise officials shifted
Three senior excise officials, including an assistant excise and taxation commissioner, handling the smuggling nexus have been shifted out of Patiala in a recent order.
The development came even as the Excise Department asked its senior officials to investigate and fix responsibility of “officials and liquor contractors” in the scam.
Confirming that an SIT had been constituted, Patiala SSP Deepak Pareek said, “The SIT will ascertain the facts in the case. We will investigate if more such liquor consignments were sent by the same contractors.”
“A thorough probe is needed to ascertain as to who ordered the consignment and how the tracking stickers fixed on the liquor bottles were missing,” said a police officer.
About 10 days ago, the police seized around 600 cartons of illicit liquor from a Gujarat-bound truck. The police have registered a case under Sections 61, 1, 14 and 78(2) of the Punjab Excise Act and Section 420 of the IPC against four persons Lovely, Komal, Monu and Narinder Singh, who are evading arrest. “We are conducting raids to arrest the accused,” said Pareek.
Meanwhile, Punjab Excise Commissioner Varun Roojam has ordered the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner “to get all details in the case and fix responsibility of erring officials and also recommend action against the erring liquor contractor”.
“In this nexus, liquor vend owners are directly involved in smuggling. The missing tracking stickers show that Punjab will lose revenue as no tax will be paid on such liquor,” said a top excise official.
