Conviction rate rises in liquor smuggling cases

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 15

The Punjab Government’s crackdown on liquor smugglers operating in the state has yielded results. The number of cases, arrests and convictions under the Excise Act has gone up substantially.

From the right-hand men of three sitting MLAs to the main accused in the infamous Amritsar hooch tragedy, the state’s Excise and Taxation Department has booked and arrested hundreds of people in the past one year. It even managed to increase the conviction rate of those caught.

A 100 per cent conviction rate has been achieved in Hoshiarpur district. The only three districts where the conviction rate has come down are Faridkot, Bathinda and Barnala, according to the data available with the Excise Department.

In 2019-20, the conviction rate across all zones was 68.20 per cent, which has gone up to 78.20 per cent in 2020-21.

“We registered 17,541 FIRs and arrested over 16,000 persons for selling illicit and licit liquor, and smuggling it. The licit liquor smuggling detected was three times the illicit liquor detected in 2020-21,” state Excise Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal told The Tribune.

Operation Red Rose

Excise officials say that the instructions from the CM, who also holds the excise portfolio, were clear that no inter-state or intra-state smuggling of liquor was to be tolerated. As a result, Operation Red Rose was launched in May last year to check illicit smuggling and manufacturing of liquor