Sons of Babandada Shinde, NCP MLA from Madha in Solapur who were former directors of the unit have allegedly sold over 1.30 lakh bottles of duty-evaded country liquor in the market.
Cracking the whip on malpractices in Maharashtra’s liquor industry, the state excise department has scrapped the license of a country liquor manufacturing unit in which a powerful NCP politician’s kin have stakes. The unit, of which Ranjit and Vikram, the sons of Babandada Shinde, NCP MLA from Madha in Solapur, are former directors, has been indicted for allegedly selling over 1.30 lakh bottles of duty-evaded country liquor in the market. It has also ordered criminal proceedings against the directors.
The order passed by state excise commissioner V Radha on Monday noted that 2,823 boxes of country liquor have “suspiciously disappeared” from the bonded warehouse of Vitthal Distilleries Private Limited at Paranda in Osmanabad. “The state excise revenue of Rs 20,32,786.80 at prevailing rates has been evaded,” it added, pointing to a report by the department’s divisional deputy commissioner which rejected the unit’s claims that these bottles were damaged in a roof collapse.
“The unit has failed to produce any concrete evidence of the damage. This makes it clear that Ms Vitthal Distilleries Private Limited, Osmanabad, has evaded state excise duties on 2,823 boxes of country liquor and distributed it,” the order noted, adding that hence, its license should be permanently cancelled.
Radha has also recommended criminal proceedings against the company’s directors for violating the Maharashtra Prohibition Act, 1949. The distillery, which manufactures grain-based alcohol, was approved under a 2007 policy.
Officials noted that while one unit had been indicted for alleged duty-evasion, the extent of malpractices in the sector could be huge. Maharashtra has 36 country liquor manufacturing units, 110 distilleries and 38 IMFL manufactories. “We will approach the High Court for a stay,” Vikram told DNA, adding that the order was “one-sided” and had disregarded ‘panchanamas’ of police and revenue officials. Vikram said he and his brother were former directors of the public limited company and held shares in it. “Our side was not considered. This (incident) happened during a hailstorm in Paranda taluka,” he said.
The unit’s inspection in 2014 had revealed a discrepancy of 2,823 boxes between the book balance and actual physical count. This included 2,455 boxes of 180 ml bottles, 256 boxes of 750 ml and 112 boxes of 90 ml. The unit said the godown’s roof was blown away due to rainfall and heavy winds on March 3, 2014, and the boxes fell down and were completely damaged.
However, a report by the divisional deputy commissioner, state excise, Aurangabad, said the unit had no evidence of hailstorms on this date. The state excise staff posted at the unit said that there were no hailstorms and the panchanamas by the police and revenue officials was conducted when these excise officers were absent.
“The unit did not produce any photographic or audio-visual evidence of damage to the godown's ceiling. The unit also did not produce any evidence of an insurance claim being filed for the so-called damage. Similarly, if 1,32,112 bottles in 2,823 boxes were broken and damaged, no direct evidence like broken seals of bottles, glass etc was presented to the state excise department at the time of inspection of the license or were otherwise found by officers of the state excise department,” the order said.
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