Mumbai: Desi scotch in bottles of top brands

Mumbai: Next time you buy a bottle of scotch of a global leading brand, verify properly whether it is original.

State excise officials from the vigilance wing on Tuesday raided a godown in Borivli and seized from there about 500 liquor bottles of some international brands. Upon checking, they found the bottles were original and sealed, but the liquor filled in them was made in India.

The officials nabbed three people, identified as Karsan Nanji Gothi Patel, Pavankumar Ramdev Dubey and Mahadev Joshi, who were involved in filling and sealing of the bottles.

According to an officer, the raid was conducted on a tip-off that a gang of high-profile bootleggers was selling Indian liquor in bottles of some foreign brands. The gang's clients included some high-profile individuals in Gujarat and some Bollywood stars.

The godown is located near Tata Power House in the IC Colony at Borivli. Excise officials seized bottles worth Rs 9 lakh of leading brands such as Johnnie Walker, Chivas Regal, Black and White and Jack Daniels. But the bottles did not contain real liquor.

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The scotch brands, which the accused sold, cost around Rs 2500 to Rs 8000 per bottle and consumers for these are mostly from the elite class. Also, the accused had contacts with local dealers in Gujarat, where liquor sale is prohibited, and sold it on discounted rates to them in huge quantities.

Inspector VC Rathod said: "The accused were very good at sealing these bottles and it is very difficult to tell they are not original. They told their clients that they had got the liquor from some foreign country or from duty free shops at airports. They operated primarily in the Gujarat where they had huge clientele of scotch consumers of leading brands. Also, people fell prey to their ploy as they offered the bottles at discounted rates. Discount could be anything between Rs 500 and Rs 2000 per bottle".

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Excise officials suspect that the business of the gang could be in crores.

Three accused revealed that they were only foot soldiers. The master minds of the rackets were identified as Ambari Patel, Girish Patel and Punjalal. All these have gone absconding.

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The excise officials have alerted the police and other agencies about the three persons and have launched a manhunt to nab them.

Also, the officials have seized a Maruti Esteem car that is suspected to have be used for transporting the liquor contraband, and some literature used by the accused for the racket. It is also being probed from where the accused got the Indian-made foreign liquor and bottles of foreign scotch brands.

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