Police in Jamshedpur seized bootlegged alcohol from an abandoned vehicle near Kashidih in Sakchi in the wee hours on a day the excise department held an online lottery for more than a dozen liquor shops in the city.

Having seized the liquor consignment, the police intimated the excise department which took the liquor-laden SUV into its custody.

Sakchi officer in charge Kunal Kumar said: “On information that an SUV was parked at an isolated spot, a police team reached there. The vehicle had no claimants; the police found it stuffed with cartons of alcohol bottles. Then we referred the matter on Thursday morning to the excise department.”

Excise department officials later confirmed that they had taken the vehicle under their custody from the police, but gave no details about the consignment, except that it comprised Indian-made foreign liquor.

The seized SUV Picture by Animesh Sengupta

According to an official of the department, several racketeers during the prolonged lockdown had started manufacturing bootlegged alcohol as the demand had spiked.

“Some of the racketeers seem to be still smuggling alcohol into the city," said the official on condition of anonymity.

Online lottery

An online lottery was held on Thursday to allot licences for 16 alcohol shops in Jamshedpur, a process that was delayed by the lockdown, Manoj Kumar, an assistant commissioner in the state excise department, said.

“Altogether 142 shops were to be allotted through online lotteries by March 31, 2020. We had already allotted 126 of them before March 31, but the remaining licenses could not be given away as the participants had not shown the necessary interest. We had decided to hold the lottery sometime towards the end of April, but by that time the lockdown had been imposed,” Kumar told The Telegraph Online.

“Only eight of the licences could be handed out,” he said.

He said that while six of the shops were meant for Sakchi, Bistupur, Golmuri and Burmamines, the remaining two shops were meant for the Potka block.

He said the e-lottery for the remaining eight shops will be held sometime in July.

Kumar said his department was aware of the bootlegging business in East Singhbhum.