Maha: Illegal liquor factory busted in Palghar, 2 held

An illegal liquor factory was busted in Palghar in Maharashtra on Monday night and two persons were arrested, state excise officials said.

Those running the unit in Chandrapada in Vasai's Juchandra area would get liquor from Silvassa etc and tamper with the labels on the bottles to erase marking specific to Maharashtra, state excise inspector Subhash Jadhav said on Tuesday.

"In this way, liquor which is not supposed to be sold in Maharashtra would find its way in, leading to heavy revenue loss to the state. The accused would paste new labels on these bottles and even change the retail price," Jadhav explained.

The sale and distribution of such liquor was mostly done over the phone or through social media, he said.

Bottling equipment, label printers, liquor stock, two vehicles and other items, all valued at Rs 9 lakh, were seized in the raid, he added.

He identified the two arrested persons as Pradeep Pillai and Sachin Mishra, and said a case was registered under the Maharashtra Prohibition Act.