Non-duty paid liquor worth Rs. 2.5L seized in Hyderabad, six held

Hyderabad: Six persons were arrested by the Telangana Excise Department, in a joint operation with a team of Special Task Force (STF) on Monday for allegedly smuggling Non-Duty Paid Liquor (NDPL) into the state from Madhya Pradesh.

The STF police recovered 154 liquor bottles worth ₹2.5 lakhs being smuggled from Madhya Pradesh to Telangana. They also seized two cars, a bike, and six mobile phones from the accused persons.

Acting on a reliable input that the non-duty paid liquor had arrived in the city, the STF Excise teams under the leadership of STF Excise Superintendent Anji Reddy conducted in Chengicherla locality.

The excise sleuths caught Tarun Verma red handed, a resident of Chengicherla, while he was bringing a large amount of non-duty paid liquor from Madhya Pradesh and distributing it in various areas of Hyderabad.

“A smuggler named Tarun Verma was arrested at Chengicherla, who was smuggling a large amount of non-duty paid liquor,” Anji Reddy said.

During the raid, the officials seized 40 bottles of liquor from his car. Upon interrogation, Varma revealed that he was involved in smuggling NDPL for the past few years and recently 154 bottles of liquor were smuggled from Madhya Pradesh. Subsequently, the police seized 70 bottles from another accused K Surender Reddy's car in Rajendranagar.

“Additionally, 44 (28 and 16) bottles of NDPL were seized from residences of two different individuals, one at Shaikpet and SR Nagar, respectively,” he added.

Later, STF Excise officials seized 28 bottles of liquor from Kranthi's house in Shaikpet and 16 bottles from Nagarjuna of SR Nagar.

The arrested persons have been identified as Tarun Verma, Ravinder Goud, Venkie, K Surender Reddy, Kranthi, and Nagaraju.

Director of Excise Department Chevuri Harikiran and Director of Excise Enforcement VB Kamalasan Reddy congratulated the STF team for their efforts in confiscating the NDPL liquor.