New Delhi: Liquor baron Gurpreet Chadha alias Ponty Chadha, known to be very close to UP Chief Minister Mayawati, has been raided by the Income Tax Department on Wednesday morning. The Directorate of Criminal Investigation of Income Tax raided 17 places belonging to the liquor baron across Delhi and Uttar Pradesh including his multiplexes in Noida and sprawling farm house in Chattarpur spread over 13 acres. Ponty Chadha is the...
12:11 PM, Feb 01, 2012
New Delhi: With just a week to go before Uttar Pradesh goes to the polls, another liquor recovery has been reported from Moradabad. 119 cartons of liquor worth 4 and half lakhs have been seized by the Excise department on Tuesday. No arrests have been made in the matter, but the link of this incident with the elections hasn't been completely denied. Officials suspect the liquor was going to be...
08:35 AM, Feb 01, 2012
New Delhi: Across the five states getting ready for the Assembly elections, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa, nearly Rs 45 crore of illegal money has been seized so far. Out of that, nearly Rs 30 crore has been seized from Punjab only. But it's not just cash, which is the king during elections. In the state with the maximum number of crorepati candidates in the fray, everything is...
10:21 PM, Jan 25, 2012
New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi has said that the use of black money during the Assembly elections was a major cause for concern and the EC was trying its best to deal with it. In an interview with CNN-IBN, Quraishi spoke about the use of money power, liquor and drugs during elections and the EC's efforts to crack it. Rajdeep Sardesai: Mr Quraishi, we are seeing the assets...
09:55 PM, Jan 25, 2012
New Delhi: Pradeep Bhatia, one of the nominees for the CNN-IBN's Citizen Journalist Awards, exposed how a tea stall was selling illicit liquor on the Independence day right next to a police station at Mira road in Mumbai. What was shocking that the tea stall was operating right next to the Kashimira Police Station on Independence Day. Pradeep took photographs of the bar functioning under the garb of a tea...
09:05 AM, Jan 25, 2012
Panaji: The flow of liquor in Goa will get restricted from Wednesday onwards in the wake of forthcoming state legislative assembly election. The District Magistrate, at the behest of state election commission, restricted the working time of liquor bars, eateries and restaurants in the state including those in five star hotels to 11 pm from January 25 to February 6. The order further stipulates that the outlets will need to...
11:37 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Puducherry: The BJP on Tuesday demanded that the government take over the liquor business in the union territory to increase revenue for implementation of various welfare schemes. As the liquor business is traditionally a lucrative revenue source, government could take it over as it is presently in critical financial condition, the party's local unit secretary SP Damodar told reporters in Puducherry. Presently wholesale and retail sales of liquor products are...
05:08 PM, Jan 24, 2012
Diamond Harbour: Noor Islam Fakir alias Khonra Badsha, the prime accused in West Bengal's worst ever hooch tragedy that claimed 172 lives, on Monday surrendered before a court, police said. Hunted by the CID for about a month after the incident at Sangrampur in South 24-Parganas district on December 13, Khonra Badsha (48) surrendered before the sub-divisional court this morning. Earlier on December 24, CID sleuths arrested the prime accused's...
03:05 PM, Jan 16, 2012
New Delhi: Punjab Police on Sunday registered a case against Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Bibi Jagir Kaur and 4 aides for allegedly distributing liquor to voters to influence them. They acted on a tip-off from Congress candidate Sukhpal Singh Khera and seized a vehicle laden with 183 cases of liquor in Kapurthala on Friday. This was the third haul in 10 days. Jagir Kaur, who used to be the chief...
08:34 AM, Jan 15, 2012
Panaji: The State Excise department has begun intensive crackdown on the illegal stocking of liquor ahead of the March 3 Goa polls as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has feared use of alcohol to woo voters. Excise Commissioner P S Reddy told reporters today that flying squads, one for each taluka, have been formed, which has been raiding the suspected premises after receiving the complaints. "We have been finding...
07:01 PM, Jan 12, 2012
New Delhi: Former Delhi High Court judge Rajinder Sachar led a civil society delegation to the Election Commission here on Wednesday, seeking a ban on supply of liquor and drugs during the Punjab assembly elections campaign. Talking to reporters here, Sachar said the civil society and media should come forward to stop drugs supply. "We are neither supporting nor opposing any political party. We will oppose those supplying liquor and...
05:10 PM, Jan 11, 2012
Akhilesh Yadav said that Mayawati will lose UP polls as she has increased the price of liquor. ...
05:31 PM, Jan 06, 2012
Lucknow: UP Lokayukta on Thursday dismissed complaint against Chief Minister Mayawati and her close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui, accusing the Chief Minister of benefiting to the tune of Rs 250 crores in the liquor trade. He said no sufficient evidence was provided against Mayawati. However, he also added that even if there was an evidence against Mayawati he couldn't act against the Chief Minister since she is out of Lokayukta ambit....
05:03 PM, Jan 05, 2012
Lucknow: A complaint has been filed before the UP Lokayukta against Chief Minister Mayawati and her close aide Naseemuddin Siddiqui. The complaint accuses Mayawati of involvement in liquor trade. The complaint says that the chief minister has benefited to the tune of Rs 250 crores in the liquor trade. Meanwhile, Siddiqui is already being probed by the Lokayukta in a separate case. The election scene in Uttar Pradesh has been...
01:36 PM, Jan 05, 2012
Hyderabad: The New Year began on a tragic note in Andhra Pradesh with 15 people losing their lives due to illicit liquor in two separate incidents since Saturday, officials said. The toll in the hooch tragedy in Krishna district claimed 14 lives since Saturday evening, while one person died in Nalgonda district Sunday. Hours before the dawn of the New Year, tragedy struck at Poratanagar in Krishna district of coastal...
09:20 PM, Jan 01, 2012
Hyderabad: What could have been New Year's Eve celebrations turned into mourning and tragedy in a village in Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district on Saturday as eight people died and at least 10 others were battling for their lives after consuming spurious liquor, police said. According to police, among the eight dead were two women, and the condition of 10 others is critical. All belonged to Poratanagar village of Mylavaram mandal...
11:38 PM, Dec 31, 2011
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has called a meeting with all district SPs, district magistrates and senior excise officials in the wake of the recent deaths related to the consumption of illegal liquor. Over 150 people died after consuming illegal liquor in West Bengal last week. The local people of Sangrampur had said that spurious liquor joints, which they destroyed, ran in full public view and in...
08:41 AM, Dec 23, 2011
Kolkata: Days after West Bengal's worst hooch tragedy, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will lead a rally from central Kolkata's College Square December 30 to spread social awareness about the perils of consuming illegal liquor. "I will be there in the rally. I want everybody to participate in this social movement against illegal hooch. I want intellectuals, journalists - everybody to take part," Mamata told media persons here Thursday. The rally...
12:44 AM, Dec 23, 2011
Kolkata: The hooch tragedy in West Bengal has claimed more than 160 lives. The villages affected have lost most of their men and their families now want the government to break the vicious narcotics nexus. One of the women from Sangrampur village, Murshida Bibi said, "Those who make gutkas, alcohol, hooch and drugs should be given the strictest punishment. These things kill our men. Now who will take care of...
09:20 AM, Dec 17, 2011
Kolkata: The West Bengal Government has finally taken action in the hooch tragedy by suspending Radheswar Pandey, the excise officer who was in charge of Diamond Harbour, where the tragedy took place. A departmental inquiry found Pandey guilty of negligence. The death toll in the hooch tragedy has touched 155 and over 300 others have been admitted to various hospitals. More officials are likely to face action. A majority of...
01:32 PM, Dec 16, 2011
