Punjab: Police recover 53 expensive liquor bottles, $12000 from govt official's house

Chandigarh, Oct 6: Punjab Police officials have found 53 bottles of expensive liquors from the house of a state agriculture director on Sunday.

As per a TOI report, Mangal Sandhu was arrested after a midnight swoop in connection with the Rs 33-crore scam that involves purchase of 92,130 litres of pesticide Obleron. Farmers and Congress leaders have alleged that the ineffectiveness of the pesticide led to the 'whitefly' pest attack on 11,780 acres of cotton crop in Punjab last month.

Cops had to carefully pick the scotch bottles during the raid from Sandhu's cabinet. The stock reportedly included four 750 ml cases of Blue Label, five Chivas Regal bottles and four Black Label bottles, each costing Rs 18,000, Rs 4,200 and Rs 5,500 each.

Cops have also found $11,634 (nearly Rs 7.5 lakh), and 2,290 Canadian dollars (about Rs 1.13 lakh), from Sandhu's wardrobe. Rs 4.14 lakh cash were also recovered from the house which were hidden in various places in his bedroom.

Property papers related to 5 different residences purchased between 1997 and 2015 were recovered from the house.

According to the Punjab Excise Tax, 1914, one individual is allowed to possess a maximum of six Indian made foreign liquor (IMFL) 750 ml bottles at home. A penalty of Rs 1 lakh is imposed up to 20 bottles and Rs 5,000 for every bottle beyond that.

Following allegations against Sandhu, the Parkash Singh Badal government in Punjab had removed him as director last week but he won a reprieve from the Punjab and Haryana high court. Sandhu has now threatened to expose the names of ministers.

OneIndia News