An excise team on Saturday morning intercepted an auto rickshaw carrying 300 litres of country-made liquor in Sukhdeonagar locality in the heart of the capital, proving that the business of hooch was prospering despite the 20-plus deaths, including that of policemen, owing to drinking spurious liquor here in September 2017.

The excise team led by excise inspector Praveen Choudhary intercepted the auto-rickshaw near Tel Mill Gali in Indrapuri under Sukhdeonagar police station limits around 10.30am. The place is hardly half a kilometre from Ranchi Hill.

Excise inspector Choudhary, later talking to this paper about the breakthrough, said the plastic pouches were full of mahua daru.

He said the arrest was made following a tip-off that an auto-rickshaw with the illicit liquor for delivery to roadside dhabas and small eateries for the Sunday clientele would cross the area on Saturday morning.

The inspector added that the concoction was illicit and could be deadly as well.

He added: “The auto-rickshaw driver Mahendra Prasad Choudhary attempted to escape but we did not allowed that. The auto-rickshaw and liquor pouches were seized and kept at our office in Kutchery. The driver, who was caught, was produced before the court, from where he was sent to jail on 14-day judicial custody. He will be questioned about the breweries, people connected with distilling the liquor and his customers.”

Inspector Choudhary added that it was the second illegal liquor consignment nabbed in less than a week.

“On July 30, we unearthed a unit on Lodha Road under Itki police station area where illicit liquor was being produced. As many as 8,600 pouches of illegally prepared country-made liquor were seized. Apart from this, 100 litre of spirits, a raw material used to make the liquor, and more empty pouches, which was kept for filling, were recovered. The unit was run by Ratan Kumar Sahu who managed to escape. We have filed a case against him,” the excise inspector said.

He added that it was unfortunate that people consumed illicit liquor even after widespread reports of fatalities caused by it.

In September, police busted the hub of an illegal liquor operation near the Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP-1) staff quarters in Doranda, which ultimately ended up killing over 20 persons, including two policemen.

Liquor used to be stocked on the campus and later sold from huts near the JAP-1 hospital in Doranda. Two officers in-charge of Doranda and Namkum, and Kotwali area’s excise sub-inspector were suspended following the hooch tragedy.