When Johnnies Walked, right out of the lab!

Sanjeev Singh Bariana

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 20

What do you do if someone drops by and leaves a bunch of fancy whisky bottles with you? Polish them off? Well, Punjab State Chemical Laboratory has another expression for it: “dispose of”!

Or at least that is the explanation the lab staff have given for 98 bottles of “Blue Label” and “Black Label” brands of Johnnie Walker found missing from the premises in Kharar when the Vigilance Department people came sniffing on July 6. These had been deposited with the lab as samples of liquor seized by the state police.

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The raid at the Punjab State Drug Food and Chemical Testing Laboratory had been carried out by the Vigilance Department after a specific complaint was received about the “standard operating procedure” not being followed at the establishment, which often receives liquor and drug samples for testing.

The “evaporation” of the spirits was discovered when the Vigilance staff sat down to tabulate all their findings regarding “case properties” — seized contraband — that were supposed to have been held in safe custody by the lab.

The not-so-spirited observers may be more interested in the value of the golden blended liquid from Scotland — a bottle of “Black Label” can be had for around Rs 3,500, and the “Blue” one for nothing less than Rs 17,000.

A senior officer associated with the raid told The Tribune: “The staff at the laboratory have not provided any details of the missing bottles, except giving a stock reply that the case property has been ‘disposed of’.” As per norms, one bottle is taken as “sample” from each case of liquor seized. And the lab had been provided such “samples” from 98 cases of Johnnie Walker confiscated by the police at a check barrier.

There are laid-down procedures for the handling of drugs, alcohol and chemical substances seized during raids, as well as the storage of such “property”. And this lab apparently believed more in vacating space on its shelves than storage.

A Vigilance official said the matter has been reported. Data is also being compiled on other samples, including narcotics, that were found missing too. The lab was unable to furnish records to show that the samples had been disposed of in a furnace, as per the rules. The general record-keeping of the samples received at the lab was also found woefully inadequate.

Director, Vigilance, G. Nageshwar Rao said: “The matter is still under investigation, so I cannot make any comment.”