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The remand note issued by SIT during the arrest of alleged 'kingpin' of the Rs 3,200 crore Andhra Pradesh liquor scam accuses that top YSRCP leaders collected monthly kickbacks of Rs 5060 crore from liquor brands that were granted preferential treatment in sales through government-run outlets. The remand note of prime accused K Rajasekhar Reddy, alias Raj Kasireddy, an associate of former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, alleges that the racket started in 2019 and "kickbacks collected each month were laundered" through hawala operators in Hyderabad, Mumbai and Delhi. However, the YSRCP on Saturday rejected these charges, criticising the TDP-led NDA government of orchestrating a politically motivated liquor scam narrative against party leaders and employing media propaganda to propagate it. The SIT had arrested the alleged kingpin and made a case for judicial custody of the accused in the remand note presented before a judge of a local court here on April 22. It alleges that th
The beer industry has urged the Karnataka government not to go for any further tax increase as it may lead to reduced sales volumes in the state and put investment of over Rs 5,000 crore in breweries at risk. Frequent increases in taxes in Karnataka in recent times have affected growth from the beer industry and have also brought down tax revenues, the Brewers' Association of India (BAI) said in a letter to the state government. Taxes on beer have been increased three times in the last 18 months -- in July 2023, February 2024, and January 2025, and as a result, the growth in sales of beer in the state, which has always been healthy, has "slumped to stagnation", it said. "After the third tax increase in January 2025, beer sales have actually started contracting for the first time," said a letter by BAI Director-General Vinod Giri. BAI is the apex body of the beer industry representing India's largest beer makers such as United Breweries (owned by Heineken, AB InBev, and Carlsberg, .
The Delhi government has directed operators of the city's hotels, clubs and restaurants serving liquor to verify the age of their clients through hard copies of government-issued identity proofs after violations of the legal drinking age norm were detected. In Delhi, liquor is served only to persons aged 25 years and above. The excise department of the Delhi government, during routine inspections by its teams in recent days, found customers younger than 25 years having alcohol at bars, clubs and restaurants. The inspections also revealed that some customers were consuming liquor pretending to have completed 25 years. Complaints were also received by the department that some excise licensees were serving liquor to underage persons, officials said. Under the Delhi Excise Act, 2009, no person or licensed vendor or his employee or agent will sell or deliver liquor to any person apparently under the age of 25 years for personal or others' consumption. The violations of the age restrict
As many as 231 people died after consuming spurious liquor in Odisha in 27 years between 1992 and 2019, Excise Minister Prithiviraj Harichandan informed the assembly on Saturday. In a written reply to a question of Congress MLA Nilamadhab Hikaka, the minister said the highest number of 134 people died after consuming hooch in Cuttack district in 1992. He said 41 people of Tukulipada in the then Bhubaneswar & Cuttack district lost their lives after drinking such liquor in 2012. The minister said spurious liquor also claimed 20 lives in Puri in 2001, 19 in Ganjam district in 2006, ten (three in Khurda & seven in Bolangir) in 2009 and seven in Bhadrak district in 2019. Harichandan said that the government, at present, doesn't have any proposal to provide assistance and rehabilitation to people falling ill due to the consumption of hooch and those addicted to liquor. A total of 433 country liquor (Mahua) shops are operating in Odisha and the government has collected Rs 227 crore ..
The Delhi government is likely to soon open liquor vends at the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport serving domestic flyers after nearly two years of obstruction due to scrapping of its excise policy 2021-22, official sources said on Tuesday. The excise policy 2021-22 was scrapped by the Kejriwal government after Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in its formulation and implementation in 2022. After scrapping of the excise policy 2021-22, the retail liquor sale in the city was handed over to the four agencies of the Delhi government that was earlier handled by private licensees. Sources said the Delhi government's agency DCCWS (Delhi Consumers' Cooperative Wholesale Store Limited) is going to open its liquor shop at T3 terminal's arrival section by July. Another store is likely to come up at T1 terminal's departure area later, they said. The earlier attempts of the government agencies to open liquor vends at the domest
All liquor, toddy, arrack shops and also clubs, bars and restaurants serving liquor will remain closed for three days from April 17 in Puducherry, Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam regions in view of Lok Sabha polls slated to be held on April 19 in the union territory. A notification of the Puducherry State Gazette said that the Lieutenant Governor has issued an order directing closure of the shops, clubs, bars and restaurants serving liquor to ensure "fair and peaceful polls in the Union Territory". The notification also said that all these shops and restaurants, bars and clubs would also remain closed on June 4 on account of counting of the votes. Another notification from the government said that as Kerala goes to the polls on April 26, all liquor, toddy and arrack shops and also clubs, bars and restaurants serving liquor would remain closed in Mahe region from April 24 to 26 to ensure fair peaceful polls and on June 4, the day of counting of votes. Mahe is an enclave of Puducherry in ..