: The Delhi Police have arrested two men for allegedly supplying premium scotch brands such as Glenfiddich Single Malt and Johnnie Walker Gold Label at plush localities in South Delhi at discounted rates after illegally sourcing them from the duty-free store at IGI airport and a factory in Gurgaon.
The quantity of seizure made by the police, alcohol worth Rs. 50 lakh, has led them to suspect that accused Mukesh Dhingra (48) and Narendra Kumar Sharma had developed a well-oiled supply network comprising those frequently travelling abroad. The police are also looking into the black money trail and have informed income tax authorities.
“Dhingra has admitted to have earned several crores as his margin was as much as the import duty. A Mercedes car which we have impounded with a consignment he was going to deliver was also bought with the same money. That aside, we have seized Rs. 15.5 lakh from the duo,” said a police officer.
List of clients
Asked if the customers included hotels or farm houses in the area, the officer said so far they had only admitted to have supplied it to individual customers, living in areas such as East of Kailash, Greater Kailash, Golf Links and Vasant Kunj, in retail.
“For the clients, the main incentive was not the discount but home delivery. For instance, if a bottle is priced at Rs.4,000 in the open market, they saved somewhere between Rs. 700 and Rs.1,000 and got it delivered to the customer at Rs. 4,000 or would waive Rs. 100 on that. Effectively, the excise duty which should have gone into the government’s coffers went straight into their pockets,” said the officer.
The costliest liquor bottle seized, whose brand name the officer could not recall, was priced at Rs. 20,000.
On the arrest, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Ishwar Singh said that on June 28, the police had received an input about transportation of imported liquor illegally in a Mercedes car.
“It was further revealed that the Mercedes car, loaded with imported liquor, would pass through Sector-5, R.K. Puram, in the evening. A team comprising Inspector Arvind Kumar, and Sub-Inspectors Babu Lal and Vijay Kaushik under the supervision of Inspector (Investigation) of R.K. Puram police station Vijaypal Dahiya was formed, and the suspects were nabbed,” said Mr. Singh.