Jamshedpur: Jharkhand State Beverages Corporation (JSBCL) that runs all liquor shops in the state has decided to carry out surprise checks at 65 outlets in and around the steel city after a salesman was caught mixing water in branded whiskey bottles on Monday.

"We have set up an audit team that will conduct surprise visits at all 65 outlets to ensure customers were getting genuine liquor," said JSBCL depot manager Debendra Kumar, adding they would now match batch numbers of cartons to ensure there was no manipulation by sales staff.

On Monday, salesman Santosh Gupta was caught mixing water in bottles of OC Blue and Royal Stag at an outlet in suburban Govindpur.

JSBCL inspector Ajay Kumar said they visited the outlet after receiving a number of complaints from customers that the liquor they had bought from there tasted different and seemed distinctly diluted.

"We had been receiving complaints for over a month. After Monday's raid, we seized eight bottles in which water had been mixed and took the salesman in custody," the inspector said, adding that the agency appointed for manning the outlets had sacked Gupta immediately.

A month ago, a former manager of an outlet was arrested in West Singhbhum for stealing liquor bottles by using a duplicate key he had made during his stint at the shop.