India-made foreign liquor bottles being seized near Jaiprabha Complex in Jamshedpur. Picture by Srinivas

Jamshedpur, July 30: A team from excise department seized 58 boxes of Indian-made foreign liquor bottles after raiding a godown near a residential complex at Bhatia Bustee in Kadma this morning.

The cost of the confiscated liquor was estimated to be about Rs 1.5 lakh. With various leading liquor brands, it was found out that the seized bottles were manufactured in Rajasthan and Chandigarh and apparently meant for illegal sale in the steel city, where the liquor selling is presently on hold.

Acting on a tip off, sub-inspector of Jharkhand excise Ajay Sharma led a team of officials from the department and raided the godown near Jaiprabha Complex at Bhatia Bustee in Kadma. The shutter was pulled down so the team entered the godown from the back door. On entering the place, the excise officers found boxes containing Indian made foreign liquor of various brands. The police could not find anybody there and it is suspected that the person in charge of the godown fled from the place after he got to know about the raid.

Looking at the stock at Jaiprabha Complex, Sharma said that it appears that somebody have brought this stock here to sell it in the market at the unauthorised shops in the steel city.

“As the liquor sale is stopped because of some administrative reason, there is acute crisis of liquor in the district markets. Some trader might have tried to take advantage of the situation releasing the foreign liquors in the market and selling them making a profit,” said Sharma.

He said he would ask for chemical examination to find out whether the liquors were fit for human consumption.

“How come the Jharkhand excise officers were unaware of an illegal business going on for quite sometime now?” said a resident of the Bhatia Bustee Lalji Singh.

He pointed out that there were whispers in the locality that some illicit business was going on here but nobody knew the exact details.

A case has been registered with the Jharkhand excise department under Section 47A of the Excise Act.