Mumbai: 2 hotel executives held in Rs 6 lakh foreign liquor racket

MUMBAI: Two senior managers of a 3-star hotel in Sakinaka were arrested along with two others by the state excise department for allegedly buying duplicate versions of imported branded liquor bottles worth more than Rs 6 lakh.
The seizure of duplicate liquor and the arrest of the two senior employees of the hotel in Sakinaka for purchasing these liquor bottles for various parties to be held in the hotel has shocked the officials.
The state excise officials on Friday arrested Ashish Manjrekar (35), Pandurang Gowda (35), Mahesh Devagadia (35) and Parth Choudhary (49). They have also seized a car belonging to the hotel, four mobile phones and have booked the accused under the Maharashtra Prohibition Act of 1949.
While Mahesh Anand Devadiga works as kitchen manager, another accused Parth Choudhary is the head manager of the hotel where many corporates throw liquor parties for their employees.
The officials said that they were shocked that the accused were trading in cheap spurious liquor for a 3-star hotel. Officials are still verifying if the management of the hotel too is involved in dealing with the spurious duplicate liquor.
The officials are looking for one Vijay Parmar who is believed to be the kingpin of duplicate/spurious imported liquor racket. The officials have seized 8 bottles of Johny Walker, 1 bottle of glenfiddich (15 years old), five bottles of Grey Goose, six bottles of Absolute, four bottles of Glen Morangie and a Swift dezire car used by the accused to transport the liquor.
Officials said that on June 10, they received a tip-off that a car having a particular registration number was likely to deliver some imported branded liquor near Hiranandani Garden in Powai. The excise department officials disguised and laid a trap in a private vehicle and no sooner did the suspected car passed, they followed and cornered it. The officials informed them that they were from the state excise department and asked to allow them to check the vehicle.
"There was a bag containing various imported liquor bottles including scotch bottles. During preliminary inquiries, Manjrekar said that he had purchased these liquor bottles from one Vijay Parmar for Rs 70,000" said an officer.
The accused Pandurang Gowda said that kitchen manager Mahesh Anand Devagadia had given the orders for 25 bottles of imported liquor on Parth Choudhary's instruction. "During the interrogations, Parth told that he had ordered these spurious liquor for various parties in the Peninsula hotel." added the officer.