Illicit liquor worth Rs1.5 crore seized across Maharashtra

The state excise department has seized illegal liquor worth over Rs1.5 crore from across Maharashtra ever since the code of conduct has been imposed. Liquor worth Rs15 lakh was recovered from Solapur alone. Rs 9.5 lakhs and Rs2.5 lakh worth of liquor were confiscated from Thane and Sindhudurg respectively.

On Thursday afternoon, excise officers seized 186 bottles of whisky from a godown in Fort.

Acting on a tip-off, on Wednesday the officers arrested a person who was carrying liquor bottles, to be sold the next day which was a dry day. According to the officers, they laid a trap and caught the accused when he was passing by on a motorcycle. “We recovered 12 bottles of Royal Stag whisky from him,” said excise inspector SG Patil.

The accused has been identified as Nityanand Kudekand, 34, who informed police that his boss Dadu Karanjiahad had given him the bottles. “The accused

took us to a room in Vasuden Mansion in Fort, which Karanjia was using as a godown. We recovered another 174 bottles of Royal Stag whisky,” said Patil.

The alcohol was procured form different places like Haryana, Daman, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, etc. Kudekand said they had wanted to make a double profit by selling the alcohol for Rs 800 to 1000 per bottle.