The Special Investigation Team (SIT) in Gurgaon has made a significant breakthrough in its probe into a massive multi-crore imported liquor smuggling racket. On Thursday, the team secured its sixth arrest, taking into custody a key operative accused of facilitating the illegal supply of untaxed foreign liquor to local shops.
The Sixth Arrest and His Crucial Role
The arrested individual has been identified as Mudit Kumar, a 37-year-old resident of Jal Vidyut Nagar in Faridabad. Following his arrest, a local court remanded him to four days of police custody for intensive interrogation. Investigators have revealed that Kumar played a pivotal role in the elaborate scam.
According to police, Kumar and his associates would submit formal requests for imported liquor consignments to the Customs department. These consignments were then legally released through a bond-to-bond transfer system, a mechanism designed for moving goods between secured warehouses.
Manipulating the System for Massive Profits
However, instead of following the legal route, Kumar and his network manipulated the system. The liquor consignments were diverted directly to retail liquor shops, bypassing the designated warehouses entirely.
This diversion was critical to the scam's profitability. By skipping the warehouses, the accused avoided all regulatory checks. This meant no excise duty or Value Added Tax (VAT) was paid on the high-value alcohol. Furthermore, the mandatory holograms and track-and-trace strips, which are legally required to be pasted on bottles, were never affixed.
A senior police official highlighted the financial motive, stating, "For each delivery, the accused received more than Rs 1 lakh." This manipulation of the bond-to-bond system allowed the group to generate enormous illicit profits by selling pure, untaxed imported liquor in the market.
The Context: A Major Raid and Previous Arrests
This latest arrest is part of an ongoing investigation triggered by a major raid earlier this month. Acting on a tip-off, a joint team of police and excise department officials conducted a raid on December 9 at a wine shop near Signature Tower in Gurgaon.
The raid led to the staggering recovery of illegal foreign liquor worth approximately Rs 10 crore. The haul, concealed in two rooms of the shop, included 3,921 cases and 176 bottles of premium imported liquor. A clear sign of their illegal status was that none of the bottles bore the required holograms or traceability strips.
Kumar's arrest follows the earlier apprehension of several other individuals linked to the racket. Those already in custody include:
- Sugreev Kumar, a 50% stakeholder and co-owner of ‘The Theka' shop, arrested at Delhi Airport.
- Ankush Goyal, who holds a 25% share in the vend.
- Ajay, the shop manager.
- Ajay, a delivery driver.
- Manoj, accused of forging transport documents.
Police are still searching for another stakeholder, a relative of Ankush Goyal, who is currently absconding. The SIT continues to investigate the full extent of this sophisticated network that defrauded the state exchequer of crores in tax revenue.
