Solan liquor unit attached over illegal supply to Bihar

Solan, December 6

A liquor manufacturing unit at Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh’s Solan district has been attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a case lodged under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) related to the alleged illegal supply of liquor in the dry state of Bihar.

The unit, Kala Amb Distillery and Brewery Private Limited, is located at Bhangla village. It had been manufacturing Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) since 2015-16.

In a statement, the ED said immovable assets worth Rs 9.31 crore had been attached.

These included an industrial plot with factory and building valued at Rs 5.31 crore in Nalagarh, and a 22,504 sqm plot along with factory and building worth Rs 4 crore at Holongi village in Arunachal Pradesh, registered in the name of Itanagar resident Dorjee Phuntso Khrime, it said.

The Nalagarh unit was being run by Sunil Bhardwaj, against whom the Bihar Police had lodged FIRs, the probe of which was subsequently shifted to the ED, it said. “The assets have been attached to recover the proceeds of crime generated through the illegal sale of liquor in Bihar,” the statement said. Bhardwaj and Khrime, it is alleged, also incorporated various entities for securing licences for establishing distilleries and liquor shops in Arunachal. The liquor allegedly would be dispatched from the Nalagarh factory to Arunachal, but diverted midway to Bihar. “Bhardwaj and Khrime used a web of entities for opening bank accounts for receiving money from the buyers of illegal liquor in Bihar,” the ED said. — TNS

Rs 9.31 crore assets

• The attached assets include an industrial plot with factory and building valued at Rs 5.31 crore in Nalagarh
• A 22,504 sqm plot with factory and building worth Rs 4 crore has been attached at Holongi village in Arunachal Pradesh