KUMUD JENAMANI
Jamshedpur, Jan 10: Acting on a tip-off, the Excise department from Seraikela-Kharsawan and East Singhbhum districts carried out a joint raid over an illicit country-made liquor manufacturing unit at Sapra village under Adityapur thana area of the adjoining Seraikela-Kharsawan district today.
While carrying out the raid, the Excise officials destroyed as many as eight ‘bhatti‘ (ovens) and seized over 10,000 kgs of ‘mahua’ seeds from the illicit distillery owned allegedly by one Shiva Mondal.
Apart from that the raiding team seized 200 litres of ready liquor besides seizing a large number of drums, and liquor-manufacturing equipment from the spot.
Ajay Kumar, Excise superintendent, Seraikela-Kharsawan who led the raid said that they had information that illicit liquor traders were manufacturing country-made liquor at a huge level in Sapra village.
“As the place where the illicit distillery was located close to Jamshedpur’s Sonari locality along the Kharkai river, we had decided to conduct a joint raid so that the distillery could be destroyed and those indulged in the racket can be nabbed. But we could only destroy the distillery, its owner Shiva Mondal and his staff managed to escape arrest, ” said Kumar while talking to lagatar24.com.
As many as 30 Excise officials participated in the joint raid which continued for three hours from 8 am today.
The Excise superintendent said that the stuff manufactured at Sapra would find its way to the illicit liquor dens at the slums in and around the steel city and also in the Adityapur as well as Gamharia localities on regular basis.
He said explained that as such liquor is made clandestinely and without any SOP, on most occasions it causes serious harm to its consumers besides causing huge revenue loss to the state government.
The senior Excise officer pointed out that such raids will continue and called upon the people to inform the department if they come across any illicit liquor manufacturing unit in one’s locality.
