Bandra wine shop offering home delivery of liquor, operating till wee hours fined Rs 19 lakh

The Maharashtra Excise Department slapped a fine of nearly Rs 19 lakh on a liquor shop in Bandra that operated beyond the permissible time and offered home delivery of alcohol.

Deepak Wines, located in Bandra’s Pali Hill area, offered home delivery of liquor in the area with the help of unregistered employees, reported the Times of India.

Further, the owner had failed to account for the sale of liquor worth Rs 11 lakh between 2017-2018 and the shop sold liquor like a wholesale supplier in the absence of any such license, a release issued by the state excise department said.

The violation came to light during a raid at the shop on Sunday afternoon. The raid was conducted after a flying squad received a tip-off about home delivery of liquor.

During the raid, investigating officers checked bill books and found that liquor worth Rs 6.3 lakh had been sold ‘illegally’. As a result, and per the provisions of the law, a three-time fine of Rs 18.9 lakh was levied.

Further, cash memos worth Rs 11 lakh were either not prepared or accounted for in the books.

Additionally, two bikes that were meant for delivering alcohol, along with cloth bags containing beer and wine, were seized by officials. The manager of the shop was also called for interrogation later in the day.

While questioning the staffers, officials learned that the shop continued selling liquor till 3 or 4 am and often delivered it straight to customer’s homes. The shop and the permit are registered in the name of Deepak C Karamchandani.

The incident comes three months after excise officials busted a major ‘alcohol delivery’ racket in the city, wherein several shops and delivery boys were part of a network allegedly run by Manish Pardasani from Living Liquidz in Juhu.

As per the current law, home delivery of liquor is illegal and carries a punishment of up to 6 months in jail or Rs 5,000 fine or both.