Cracking down hard on illicit hooch, Dhanbad Excise Department raided Palani village Friday, seizing spurious liquor and arresting one in a joint operation with police. Intelligence pointed to Shivcharan Mahto’s Baliapur home as a storage and sales point for bogus English brands.
The 6 AM assault yielded 18-25 liters despite evasion tactics, with street value pegged at Rs 20,000-25,000. The detained suspect’s interrogation is set to peel back layers of the distribution web plaguing the district.
‘Government coffers suffer, and lives hang in balance from these toxic brews,’ Excise Officer Joy Hembram asserted. This forms part of a broader crackdown, with teams deployed across vulnerable zones to preempt sales spikes.
Jharkhand’s battle against fake liquor has seen mixed results, but momentum is building through tip-offs and tech-aided tracking. This Palani success story exemplifies coordinated efforts yielding tangible results, from seizures to arrests.
Residents, long plagued by the shadowy trade, see hope in such interventions. As enforcement intensifies ahead of high-consumption periods, bootleggers face a tightening noose. The department reaffirms its pledge: relentless pursuit until the illicit flow dries up completely.