Case registered in Rs 1.18 cr alcohol theft after Chandigarh administrator’s intervention
After direct intervention from Chandigarh Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria, an FIR has been registered at Industrial Area Phase 1 police station 10 by the Excise Department in the high-profile theft case involving 40,000 litres of Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) worth approximately Rs 1.18 crore.
The FIR comes after months of delay despite complaints by Advocate and former member of the Administrator’s Advisory Council, Shivi Jaiswal, who had been persistently raising the matter with authorities.
The said ENA theft, first reported in July 2024, saw stock meant for auction and recovery of a penalty mysteriously disappear from M/s Sancheti Packaging Pvt. Ltd. The plant’s license had earlier been cancelled through a Withheld/Excluded for Transportation and Control (W/ETC) order dated February 3, 2023, effective from February 4, 2023. The stock, sealed and placed under the protection of the Excise Department, was intended to compensate for penalties imposed on the bottling plant.
Although the Excise Department became aware of the theft by August 2, 2024, no FIR was filed at the time, with officials citing an ongoing internal inquiry, according to sources. The delay in action had given way to serious concerns of negligence, with suspicions of a cover-up by certain officials.
Jaiswal repeatedly highlighted the lapses, urging authorities to ensure accountability. The Excise and Taxation Department, Chandigarh, has now registered an FIR regarding the alleged theft from a sealed bottling plant in the Industrial Area, Phase-1.
According to the complaint submitted by Excise Taxation Commissioner Hari Kallikkat, the premises of M/s Sancheti Packaging Pvt. Ltd. (leased at M/s Nayyar Alcobrew Pvt. Ltd., Industrial Area Phase 1) were found breached and liquor stock missing, despite the plant being officially sealed in February 2023 following the cancellation of the firm’s licence.
The issue first came to light on April 2, 2024 when FIR had been registered regarding a different reported theft of finished liquor stock at the same plant. That incident, involving 60 nips — 39 of English Marka 555 Gold Whiskey (180 ml each) and 21 of Country Wine Marka Joshila Santra (180 ml each) — came to light after it was reported by Mangla Singh, a vigilant PECSO employee deputed at the site.
Subsequently, a departmental committee comprising of then Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) Randhir Singh and then Excise and Taxation Inspectors (ETI) Chandan Preet Kaur and Bhupinder Singh Rana, de-sealed the plant for inspection. Done in the presence of owner of plant Harjinder Nayyar of M/s Nayyar Alcobrev Pvt. Ltd., the committee discovered significant tampering. Seals and locks on blending vats and ENA storage vats were broken, and physical stock was found scattered and short compared to the original records. The committee also found that vital equipment, including motors, conveyor belts, wires, air conditioners, monitors, and other machinery, was missing.
According to FIR, the committee forwarded a request letter to SHO, PS Industral Area in April and another one to SSP UT in May, 2024 to lodge an FIR for taking necessary action.
Further inspections were conducted on July 29 and August 2, 2024, after the new officer-in-charge, ETI Amandeep Dutt came into the picture, confirming that the ENA tanks were completely empty. Dutt made several attempts to have the matter addressed by the police, including visits and written memos on August 2, 2024, to the police station concerned, but no FIR was initially lodged.
The inaction prompted Jaiswal to raise the matter repeatedly with the administration. In October 2024, he submitted formal complaints to the then Adviser to the Administrator, Rajeev Verma, urging intervention. On June 7 this year, Jaiswal met Administrator Gulab Chand Kataria and submitted a fresh written application, following which the Administrator directed the registration of the FIR.
Chandigarh