Mumbai: Two held for selling spurious liquor worth Rs 1 lakh

Two men involved in the sale of spurious liquor were caught red-handed in Andheri west on Saturday by the state excise department. The arrested accused have been identified as Varun Rajmalani (32) and Vinod Parmar (35).

According to state excise officials, Rajmalani and Parmar are old associates and are suspected to be involved in the adulteration business for some time.

The duo would first steal original foreign liquor from air cargo and later sell duplicated drinks as and when the demand would come.

The duo, who are said to have been on the radar of excise authorities, had stolen some bottles from an air cargo consignment which came into the city recently. The adulterated consignment of six scotch bottles was to be sold to a client in Andheri.

"Based on credible information, we started monitoring the duo and on Saturday, when they were trying to sell the bottles, our team which had already laid a trap, nabbed the duo and seized the bottles.

"The scotch bottles of different brands, including Absolut Vodka, Glenfiddich and Black Label, were being sold for Rs 1 lakh. We have also seized two mobile phones.

"We suspect that because the accused had some connections in air cargo, they got away with foreign liquor packages easily. After duplication, the bottles would be sold further," said an excise officer on condition of anonymity.

While Rajmalani is said to be a resident of Sion, Parmar hails from Nagpada area of Mumbai Central.

The duo has been booked under Section 65(E) of the Bombay Prohibition Act and remanded to police custody until May 28.