Excise officials seize Goa liquor worth ₹15 lakh from former gram panchayat president’s house in Karkala

The Udupi Excise Department on Thursday seized 2,360.85 litres of Goa liquor worth ₹15 lakh from two houses of Avinash Malli, who is said to be a local Congress leader in Bola village, Karkala taluk.

The Udupi Excise Department on Thursday seized 2,360.85 litres of Goa liquor worth ₹15 lakh from two houses of Avinash Malli, who is said to be a local Congress leader in Bola village, Karkala taluk.

Mr. Malli and another accused, Prashanth Suvarna of Udupi, are absconding, department officials said.

Based on information and upon a direction from Mangaluru Excise Joint Commissioner H.C. Balakrishna, department officials raided Avani Nilaya belonging to Mr. Malli at Abyanadka and Marimaru Guthu house, both in Bola village at 4.50 a.m. on Thursday.

During the simultaneous raids, officials found 272 boxes of liquor and registered two separate cases, said P. Bindushree, Deputy Commissioner of Excise, Udupi district. The raids were led by District Excise Superintendent Shivaprasad, assisted by Deputy Superintendent Gurumurthy D. Palekar and his team.

According to reports, Mr. Malli was the president of the Bola Gram Panchayat during 2000-2002. At present, he is said to be the president of Bola Grameena Congress Samithi.

Department officials claimed that Mr. Malli and Mr. Suvarna used to supply the Goa liquor for weddings and other parties in neighbouring Kerala. They reportedly transported the liquor using luxury cars to circumvent law enforcing agencies. They brought liquor from Goa through lorries transporting vegetables, officials said, adding they have begun search operations to trace the accused.

As soon as it was learnt that one of the accused was a Congress leader, the Bharatiya Janata Party took a dig at the Congress.