Excise officers said they raided a bungalow in Palghar on Tuesday and seized beer and foreign liquor worth Rs 21 lakh destined for Gujarat, which holds Assembly elections early next month.
Following a tip-off about illegal liquor smuggling, the Palghar unit of the Maharashtra State Excise department raided the bungalow at Wadavali village, just 20 kilometres from the Gujarat border, with the assistance of local police. They seized over 2,000 bottles of beer and foreign liquor, but the accused escaped.
“The information was that the liquor will be supplied to Gujarat ahead of the Assembly elections. During the raid, we found the bottles inside a mini truck parked at the bungalow. The accused was tipped off about our arrival and he managed to escape,” said Palghar Excise Inspector SS Amberkar. The liquor had stamps of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the officers found. “The bottles were supplied to Wadavali village of Palghar from where the consignment was supposed to be delivered in Gujarat,” Amberkar added.
The excise officers later discovered that the mini truck belonged to Umesh Hadad, who had fled the bungalow prior to the raid. He has been named as an absconding suspect in the case. The excise officers are also investigating whether the seized beer and foreign liquor were manufactured illegally and packaged in bottles of foreign brands, as in previous Palghar cases.