Authorities crack down on Maharashtra distillery allegedly smuggling liquor to Gujarat

Cracking down on a major irregularity wherein liquor manufactured in Maharashtra and meant for sale in Arunachal Pradesh was being allegedly smuggled to the dry state of Gujarat, the state excise department has lodged an FIR against a distilley controlled by NCP leader Rajan Patil. The department is also examining if manufacturing units selling liquor to Goa are involved in such irregularities. 

Spanning several states, the investigation relied on records at toll nakas. Officials are also examining if part of the consignment was off-loaded for sale in Maharashtra without paying excise duty. State excise officials from Solapur, where the manufactory is located, are under the scanner for alleged lapses, including not ensuring due diligence and permitting transport to Arunachal through a circuitous route via Gujarat.

It is also planning to amend its policy wherein units will have to pay the full excise duty in Maharashtra and claim a refund after showing evidence that the liquor has been delivered in the other state. This will prevent smuggling and diversions to local and outstation markets. 

From April 1, 2015, to November 30, 2016, Ms Nakshatra Distilleries and Breweries Ltd, Solapur dispatched 1,10,000 boxes of various liquor brands to Arunachal Pradesh and officials said they suspected some of it was offloaded at Gujarat. Former NCP MLA Rajan Patil and his family members are directors of the potable liquor unit.

“We have lodged a FIR,” V Radha, Commissioner, State Excise told DNA, adding the unit was being investigated. “In the name of exporting alcoholic beverages, they have defaulted on payment of excise. There is no proof of the material reaching Arunachal,” she said, adding this was a first-of-its-kind case in Maharashtra.

While the unit claimed they were exporting liquor to a bonded warehouse at Bordumsa in Arunachal Pradesh, investigations revealed that transactions of liquor from other states had not taken place there since October 2014. 

Investigating officer inspector Charudutt Hande, who also visited Arunachal Pradesh, said they suspected that part of the consignment was offloaded in Gujarat and at the Gujarat- Rajasthan border and further investigations would reveal the actual destination of the consignment. He admitted they were also examining the possibility of the duty-evading liquor being sold in Maharashtra and said matters would be clear once the truck drivers were nabbed. Mahadeo Karwar, the unit’s joint manager, has been arrested. 

Since manufacturers can export liquor at a nominal charge of Rs 2 per bulk litre, they have to sign a bond certifying that if the consignment does not reach the intended destination, they will pay the state excise department the duty charged on liquor in Maharashtra, said Hande. Accordingly, a notice has been issued to the unit for recovery of Rs 21.44 crore. 

Liquor was dispatched 73 times from Ms Nakshatra Distilleries in only 10 trucks. The 8,116 km return journey is expected to take minimum 20 days. However, a truck which was dispatched from the unit on September 6, 2015, was sent again nine days later on September 15, 2015. The department’s estimates say that around 31 consignments have been offloaded in Gujarat. 

A state excise report said that no records of the trucks were found at the check naka at Bordumsa. “No liquor sent by the PLL (potable liquor) unit Ms Nakshatra Distilleries and Breweries Ltd, District Solapur, vide various import-export transactions was received at the Ms Royal Bonded Warehouse, Bordumsa (Arunachal Pradesh),” the report said, adding that import permissions made out by the distillery in the name of the warehouse were “fake and illegal.” Documents in the office of the Commissioner (Excise and Taxation), Arunachal Pradesh, revealed that no import permissions were approved for the warehouse from the Solapur unit. 

When contacted, Patil said he was unaware of the department’s notice to his unit and attributed this to “political vendetta.” The former MLA from Mohol, however, confirmed that he and his family members were directors of the private venture. 

“I was an NCP MLA for 15 years and, now, political vendetta is on. If something has happened, it will be for eroding us politically... The government wants to take revenge even on my family,” Patil claimed, adding that he enjoyed complete sway in the taluka. He said they would approach the courts for redressal.  “Not even one non-cognisable offence or election related case has been registered against me,” he stated, adding that necessary papers had already been submitted to the excise department. 

Maharashtra has 45 manufactories which manufacture IMFL, and the number of units producing country liquor is 38. It also has 138 molasses and grain-based distilleries.