ED searches 10 premises over alleged duty evasion on imported liquor in Gurugram
The ED's Gurugram office searched 10 premises in Delhi-NCR, Haryana and Punjab, alleging a syndicate sold imported liquor through a Gurugram vend without paying duties and taxes.
Key points
- The ED's Gurugram Zonal Office searched 10 premises on 3 and 4 November 2026 in a money laundering case over imported foreign liquor.
- The ED alleges a syndicate sold over 1 lakh bottles without holograms through a Gurugram vend, generating more than Rs 10 crore in proceeds.
- The ED says it seized documents, digital records and Rs 11 lakh in cash, and that its investigation is continuing.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) searched 10 premises in Delhi-NCR, Haryana and Punjab on 3 and 4 November 2026 in a money laundering case over imported foreign liquor sold in Gurugram. The ED alleges that a liquor syndicate sold more than 1 lakh bottles without holograms and track-and-trace strips through a licensed vend called "The Theka", evading duties and taxes, and generated proceeds of crime of more than Rs 10 crore.
What Happened
According to the ED's Gurugram Zonal Office, its investigation began from an FIR and chargesheet by Haryana Police. Excise officials had seized 3,921 cases and 176 loose bottles of imported foreign liquor without holograms and track-and-trace strips from "The Theka" on 9 December 2025, the ED said.
The ED alleges that the syndicate misused the bond-to-bond transfer system, under which liquor can be moved from one state to another without paying customs and excise duty at the time of transfer. It set up companies in Haryana and Goa or Maharashtra and obtained customs licences, the ED said. Instead of taking the liquor to warehouses in Goa or Maharashtra, the ED alleges, the syndicate and transporters diverted it to vends in Gurugram, where it was sold as legitimate imported stock without paying customs duty, VAT, permit fees and other taxes, at a profit of 20-25%. The ED says the bottles were procured between June and November 2025.
The searches covered offices and homes of people linked to the vend, liquor suppliers and transporters. The ED said it seized documents, digital records of bond-to-bond supplies and Rs 11 lakh in cash.
These are allegations, not findings of guilt; the accused are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court, and due process continues.
What It Means
Holograms and track-and-trace strips let excise departments check that duty has been paid on a bottle. A bottle without them, the ED's case shows, may have escaped those taxes, so the strip is worth checking when buying imported liquor. Duty evaded on such sales is revenue lost to the Union and the state. The ED says its investigation is continuing.
This report describes enforcement actions and allegations on the public record, attributed to the officials cited. An order, FIR or chargesheet is not a conviction; parties are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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Sources & Citations
- Enforcement Directorate press release — Enforcement Directorate