Rourkela: The Odisha Excise department personnel seized 115 liters of counterfeit liquor from the Chhend area in Odisha’s Rourkela and arrested five bootleggers on charges of selling illicit liquor.
According to reports, acting on a tip-off, Excise raided a den in Dhamra basti and arrested the bootleggers while they were finalising a deal to sell the illicit liquor.
The arrested include Hamid Khan (44) of Gopbandhupali, Deepak Goud (42) of Sector-19, Shiv Hindocha (43) of Basanti Colony, Avtar Singh (34) of Uditnagar and Phillip Behera (54) of Chhandar. The accused include two auto-rickshaw drivers and a tow truck owner.
The Excise officials seized 115 liters of counterfeit foreign liquor, 2,000 empty bottles, 497 corks, 246 stickers and 363 adhesive labels along with one auto-rickshaw, one motorbike and one scooter from their possession. The estimated value of seized counterfeit liquor and goods is said to be around Rs 5 lakh.
According to preliminary investigation, the accused were bringing fake liquor from Jharkhand and selling it at various places in the steel city.
