Hyderabad: The Ranga Reddy Enforcement Team of the Prohibition and Excise Department busted a racket involving a gang engaged in liquor mixing.
The gang collected empty bottles of expensive liquor from parties hosted by wealthy people. They would then fill these expensive bottles with cheap liquor—such as the ‘Icon’ brand—mixed with a small amount of water, repackage them as premium brands, and sell them to software employees.
Lalu Prasad Biswal and Rajeshwar Meher, both natives of Odisha, worked in the liquor event management sector.
They were associated with Sharath Chandra, a software employee hailing from Karimnagar who resides in Attapur.
Sharath Chandra befriended the two Odisha natives working in the liquor events industry and invested capital in their operation. The trio worked together to collect empty bottles of expensive liquor. Subsequently, they filled these bottles with adulterated liquor mixtures and sold them to software employees at discounted rates, sharing the profits among themselves.
The gang rented a room in Guttala Begumpet (Kondapur area) to serve as their base of operations. There, they adulterated the collected expensive liquor bottles by mixing them with cheap liquor, sold the resulting products at lower prices, and made a fortune.
For instance, they would take a bottle of ‘Royal Salute’—originally priced at Rs. 25,100—and fill it with a mixture of various cheap liquors.
Investigations revealed that Shivaji Regal bottles—originally priced at Rs. 9,090—were being sold for Rs. 4,000, and Grandwich bottles—originally priced at Rs. 7,190—were being sold for Rs. 3,000.
This adulterated liquor was being sold to software employees with the assistance of Sharath Chandra, a software professional himself.
Cases have been registered against Lalu Prasad Biswal, Rajeshwar Meher, and Sharath Chandra in connection with this incident.
