Liquor truck ‘seized’, but cops, excise officials in denial mode

Tribune News Service

Faridkot, May 3

The seizure of a truck loaded with 100 crates of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) and beer at Kotkapura in Faridkot has landed the police and the Excise and Taxation department in an awkward position.

The huge stock of liquor was allegedly owned by a political leader of Muktsar area and he was shifting it clandestinely from Bathinda to Kotkapura on Saturday night. However, after the police “seized” the truck, there was immense “political pressure” and three days later, the truck is not in sight.

The police are tight-lipped and the Excise and Taxation Department authorities are feigning ignorance about it. This despite the fact that photos and videos of the seized liquor-loaded truck parked at the police station in Kotkapura have gone viral on social media.

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SPS Grewal, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC), Faridkot, denied having any information about the seizure. “However, we have sealed four liquor stores in Kotkapura for the physical verification of the stock,” he said.

Gurdeep Singh, SHO, Kotkapura police, said as the driver and cleaner of the truck had fled, the police were yet to identify the owner of the truck and liquor to take necessary legal action.

However, the police are not sharing any information about the whereabouts of the seized truck and its stock.

Sources said the owner of the liquor stock is a politician of Muktsar who was allotted some liquor shops in Bathinda in 2015-16. But for 2016-17, the leader was allotted liquor shops in Kotkapura area and so, he was “illegally shifting his last year’s unsold stock” to Kotkapura.

They said within minutes of the seizure, the political links of the accused put the police in an awkward situation and the truck standing in the police station on Sunday morning “disappeared” by afternoon.

Was last year’s unsold stock

Sources said the politician was allotted some liquor shops in Bathinda in 2015-16. But in 2016-17, the leader was allotted liquor shops in Kotkapura area and so, he was “illegally shifting his last year’s unsold stock”. 

Photos go viral on Internet

The authorities are mum over the issue despite the fact that photos and videos of the seized trucked, loaded with a huge stock of the liquor, parked at the police station have gone viral on social media.