Cops said that the most of the duplicate liquor bottles were being sold in the western part of the city.
Acting on a tip-off, a raid was conducted in the Odhav area of the city and the cops detained Saroj with 147 bottles of IMFL and beer cans all worth Rs 88,860.
The cops also recovered duplicate bottle caps used for sealing the premium bottles, along with stickers of 12 premium brands and 91 empty bottles.
The PCB registered a case under the Prohibition Act and started further investigations.
“The accused used to fill IMFL in the empty bottles and paste labels of premium brands on them. They used to sell it mainly them mostly in the western parts of the city,” said a senior police official.
The cops said that they had received information that liquor mafia would be active in the region and were keeping an eye on suspicious activities.
Police said that in some cases the accused had mixed some chemicals and the essence of premium whisky brands in the IMFL to enhance the taste. Police have begun an investigation and are tracing their clients and from where the duplicate stickers were printed and purchased.
Police said that in December 2020, two brothers were caught for running a manufacturing unit of IMFL in their residential flat in Ambawadi.
In 2017, the crime branch had busted an illegal liquor factory in Krishnanagar, where cheap IMFL and water mixed with ready-made apple juice was being sold as premium alcohol.
The officials said that majority of these practices were being carried out in the eastern part of the city and were supplied to the western part.
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