870 liquor holograms found fake in Haryana

Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, June 17

Days after the police seized 500 cartons of liquor in Fatehabad and many more at Anwal in Rohtak, belonging to Jhajjar bases distillery ADS Spirits Pvt Ltd, 870 out of the 894 holograms sent to Security Printing Press for testing were found “not genuine”.

Labels of Royal Challenge, Signature Premium and MeDowell’s No 1 of United Spirits Ltd seized by the police at Anwal in Rohtak, however, were found genuine by the laboratory.

A senior official of the Excise and Taxation Department today confirmed the development.

Copies of the report sent by the Security Printing Press, Hyderabad, a unit of Security Printing and Mining Corporation of India Limited, to the department showed that the Haryana Excise and Taxation Department had sent 440 excise adhesive labels (EALs), also called holograms, of Moonwalk, an IMFL brand of ADS Spirits, for testing and all these were found “not genuine”.

Similarly, 231 holograms of Asli Santra, a country liquor brand of ADS Spirits Pvt Ltd, was also found “not genuine”.

Of the 85 labels of another country liquor of Shahnai, only two were found genuine and two out of the 24 labels of Fresh Malta brand, owned by ADS Spirits Pvt Ltd, were found “not genuine”.

In two more consignments, the department had sent 33 and eight EALs, respectively, of the IMFL manufactured by the same distillery for testing, but all these labels were found “not genuine” in testing.

Ashutosh Rajan, collector (excise)-cum-joint excise and taxation commissioner, Haryana, said the department had received the report and was taking the follow-up action. The police had not completed its investigations into the FIRs and once the department received report from the police that the liquor came from the same distillery, action under the rules would be initiated.