Ludhiana, Punjab: The Punjab Police arrested a liquor contractor and an amusement park owner, Rakesh Kumar aka Bittu Chhabra accused of selling cheap liquor at premium rates.
Selling cheap liquor for premium price
He used to fill cheap liquor ‘999’ in bottles of branded scotch and sold them at premium prices.
According to a Hindustan Times report, the man had started the racket in January and sold 40 boxes of duplicate scotch so far. The police raided Khadoor village on February 13, 2020, and recovered about 135 boxes loaded with empty bottles along with 50 cartons of liquor where cheap liquor ‘999’ was filled in branded liquor bottles.
Cop speak
Speaking to Indian Express, the DSP said, “Chhabra purchased approximately 40 boxes of cheap and duplicate liquor packed in bottles of premium brands from another accused Raju whom we had arrested earlier. He also owns some liquor vends in the city. Chhabra was also in touch with another accused Amit Singh Parmar, who is yet to be arrested. It is a matter of probe if he purchased liquor from Parmar too. It is also being probed to whom he sold duplicate liquor boxes ahead.”
According to the police, the cheap liquor ‘999’ costs just Rs. 700-800( per box with 12 bottles) while the smuggler sold it for nearly 60,000 per box (12 bottles of Chivas Regal) or Johnie Walker Premium labels for 25,000-30,000 per box.