Excise suspends 5 in Chalakkudy

Thrissur: The State Excise Commissioner on Tuesday suspended five officers of Chalakkudy Excise Range in view of a Vigilance raid conducted in the office on Sunday that revealed that the premises of the Excise office was acting as a place for toddy shop owners and distributors to mix toddy with unauthorized substances.

Deputy Excise Commissioner in Thrissur N S Salimkumar had submitted a report to the commissioner who in turn suspended the officers who were on duty during the raids. Excise inspectors A T Joby, C C Wilson, intelligence officer U A Ummer, civil excise officers E K Sabu and Shiju S are the suspended officers, sources in the Excise Department said.     

Vigilance sleuths had seized Rs 45,000 and unauthorized solutions which were mixed with toddy in the raids conducted at the Chalakkudy Excise Range office on Sunday morning. Officials from Legal Metrology Department also took part in the raids and found that instead of the allowed quantity of 1,900 liters of toddy meant to be supplied through the range, as many as 2,135 liters were found during the raids from the range office.

The money was found lying on a ramp on the premises at the office, Vigilance officials who conducted the raids said. The raids were conducted on the basis of a tip off and a detailed report on the raid would be soon sent to the Vigilance Director.

After the raids, the equipment used for mixing toddy with certain solutions and the money were handed over to Chalakkudy police by the Vigilance and a case by invoking sections of the Abkari Act was registered against three persons, who were caught redhanded mixing the toddy brought in three pick-up vans with unauthorized substance in the compound of the office.