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The Enforcement Directorate has exposed a liquor racket spanning across several states and recovered receipts worth ₹8 crore and 32 original property sale deeds during searches at 12 premises in Delhi, Bihar, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.
The agency stated that Sunil Kumar @ Sunil Bhardwaj @ Sunil Sharma, who runs Kala AMB Distillery and Brewery Pvt. Ltd at Solan in Himanchal Pradesh, and Dorjee Phuntso Khrime, a resident of Arunachal Pradesh, run a liquor syndicate across Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Arunchal Pradesh, West Bengal and Jharkhand, among others.
Sunil Kumar and Khrime have been accused of pushing liquor even in the dry state of Bihar. Both, pointed out the ED, “created a web of entities for running this syndicate and also opening various bank accounts to receive proceeds via cash deposits/ account transfers/NEFT etc. from the buyers of the liquor from different states”.
To gather more evidence, the investigators carried out searches at the residence of Sunil Kumar at Greater Noida in UP and Khrime’s house at Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, M/s Kala AMB Distillery and Brewery Pvt. Ltd. at Solan, and other premises of associated entities/persons at Gurugram and Panipat - both in Haryana, Rohini in Delhi, and Noida, also in UP, said the ED in a statement.
The residence of Video Rai, allegedly a habitual criminal and liquor supplier, and his son Pintu Kumar at Samastipur in Bihar too were raided by ED.
Interestingly, the agency said in a separate case -- ECIR No. PTZO/11/2022 -- Rai’s seven properties worth ₹3.51 crore were attached through an order dated September 2, 2022, and confirmed by Appellate Authority on February 14, 2023.
Incriminating documents have been recovered during the searches, such as investments in various properties in national capital region (NCR) and in Dubai by Sunil Kumar, and 32 original sale deeds of purchase of properties by Rai in his and in the name of his family members.
ED said it has identified ₹8-crore worth receipts of proceeds of crime deposited in cash into various accounts of banks in Bihar. These accounts are operated by the entities linked with Sunil Kumar, the agency stated. The sleuths are also examining other incriminating physical and digital material found during the search.
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