150 liquor boxes worth Rs 1.5 crore seized from Delhi train in Bengaluru; 4 arrested

Bengaluru: Following the seizure of more than 1,000 litres of smuggled liquor from a Delhi parcel special train at Yeshwantpur station last week, Delhi police Monday said it busted an interstate liquor smuggling network and arrested three suspects. In Bengaluru, one person was caught.

During the operation on May 18, Delhi police recovered 80 boxes of illicit liquor from a tempo and arrested the driver, Akhilesh Kumar Singh. In Bengaluru, 74 boxes were recovered from the parcel train coming from Okhla in Delhi on May 21, taking the total count to 154 boxes worth Rs 1.5 crore.

During interrogation, Akhilesh said he would transport liquor consignments to railway parcel booking points in Delhi on the instructions of Upender Singh and his son, Ankit Singh.

Based on this statement, police conducted raids at the father-son’s residence and recovered 11 more boxes of illicit liquor. Subsequently, a team of Delhi cops was sent to Bengaluru, where 74 boxes were recovered from Yeshwantpur railway station in a coordinated operation with Railway Protection Force (RPF) and Karnataka excise department.

In total, the 74 boxes seized in Bengaluru contained 1,118 liquor bottles of various brands worth Rs 66 lakh. AVG Logistics, the firm that leased the parcel van, was issued a notice under Section 35(3) of BNSS Act, 2023 and told to appear before the investigation team.

On Monday, excise department officials said Veerendra Kumar, suspected to be part of the syndicate, was caught at Yeshwantpur. Veerendra has been sent to judicial custody and will be questioned to get details about the racket, R Venkatesh Kumar, excise commissioner, Karnataka, told TOI.

(Inputs from PTI)