The Special Investigation Team investigating the alleged theft/theft of liquor from warehouses/demolitions in Haryana, in its report submitted to the state government, has pointed the finger at a prominent liquor group that has its distilleries in Punjab and Haryana and said that, although multiple FIRs were registered on charges of illegal movement of liquor brands owned by the group, however, the police or the tax department did not initiate any action against the group’s administration.
The SET has also annexed at least a dozen FIRs registered in various police stations in Ambala and Kurukshetra and also raised questions about the role of the police why despite the revelations made by the detainees, the management of the distillery was not asked to join the investigation. in said FIRs.
Haryana Interior Minister Anil Vij had said Thursday that he had “fully accepted” the SET report and was “forwarding it to the State Surveillance Office for FIR registration and conducting a thorough investigation.”.
However, the NV group whose distilleries are now under scan refuted SET’s claims. “I think incorrect information is being transferred from one place to another. As far as NV is concerned, this is a great international group. There may be some people who are doing (these things). They’ve captured some local duplicate materials and all that. Sometimes they have also used the name NV. These are small companies that manufacture counterfeit products. This is a very clean company. There would always be some people who would like to smear the company. But there is nothing as such on our part, ”Praveen Kumar Malviya, president (commercials) of NV Group, told The Indian Express.
However, SET noted in its report: “Regarding the investigation of large cases by the police, the investigation has not reached its logical conclusion in many cases. When analyzing the reports obtained from the police on the origin and expected destination in cases of FIR where more than 100 boxes (cartons) of liquor were recovered during the period from April 1, 2019, to May 10, 2020, it is observed that in several cases There are clear indications that the seized liquor originates from NV Distillery, village-Badholi, Naraingarh, Ambala District or NV Distillery, Rajpura, Patiala District, Punjab or RS Distillery, Chandrao Village, Indri, Karnal, but Investigating officers have not ordered the concerned authorities of the distillery to join the investigation. ”
In support of its statement, SET also annexed 14 FIRs registered in various police stations in Haryana. Of these, in 12 FIRs, SET has mentioned about the NV distilleries in Ambala and Rajpura as “the source”, while the RS distillery is linked to one FIR and another FIR is there in which no distillery is identified as the one. source from which the liquor was obtained. illegally smuggled.
“The police, in general, are naming as defendants the drivers of the confiscated vehicles, those found with the confiscated liquor, etc., but, except in a few cases, it does not appear that serious efforts have been made. to address the origin of the contraband liquor and to at least issue notices to the competent authorities of the distilleries to join the investigations regarding which it was suspected that the liquor had been smuggled from there. In many cases, the police have reported sources of liquor from neighboring Punjab and Ambala district and, in one case, Karnal district and the brand of contraband liquor has also been mentioned in the liquor seized, but the administration of these factories or the excise duty personnel have been published, no imputations have been made nor have they been asked to join the investigation, ”the SET report mentions.
He adds, “In a few cases, after the establishment of SET, the Investigating Officers have sent notices to the management of the distillery. The NV distillery name appears in many cases over and over again. How is it possible to smuggle liquor in a big way without the complicity of the administration itself or the tax officials who are there … ”
When SET wanted to visit NV Distillery, his visit was also shelved due to the unavailability of the Commissioner of Tax and Excise, Shekhar Vidyarthi.
“To verify the complaints received in this regard and the veracity of the allegations made in the FIR, SET had decided to visit the NV distillery on July 3, 2020 for which Sh. Shekhar Vidyarthi, during their interaction on June 27, verbally agreed to accompany SET. The fact that the NV distillery is involved in the smuggling of liquor was voiced by most of the officers with whom the SET had interacted. However, on July 3, 2020, SET’s visit could not materialize due to the telephone innuendo from Sh. Shekhar Vidyarthi few hours before departure, of his concern, ”SET wrote in his report.
Speaking more about NV Distilleries in its report, SET wrote, “SET has obtained corroborative evidence regarding possible complicity of NV Distillery in cases / FIRs recorded by the police. After reading the news reports that the Punjab excise and duty department had carried out a physical inspection of the stocks of the distilleries in Punjab, information was requested in this regard from the chief excise and excise secretary, letter from Punjab video no. 3474 dated June 25, 2020. In response, information was received in a video letter dated July 27, 2020, that 22,936 unaccounted for cases (boxes) were found at NV Distillery, Rajpura, Punjab. During the interaction with the respective Investigative Officers and Police Superintendents, the SET had suggested that they do what is necessary to unearth the real mafia behind such smuggling of illegal liquor ”.
Responding to inquiries about multiple FIRs that SET has annexed in its report (FIRs in which more than 100 cartons of illegally moved liquor were found) pointing a finger at NV distilleries, Malviya added: “We have also filed FIRs against people that our brand is made in duplicate. We have copies of those FIRs. Some people have also been captured. We also have copies of the FIRs that our brand is manufactured in different places and sold under our name ”.
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