The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has arrested the leader of a liquor syndicate Balagouni Balraj here yesterday while he was on his way to Kolkata from Bangalore. A ACB release this evening said, Balaraj had been absconding since January 27, 2012. The liquor syndicate leader, who was a toddy tapper, went on to become an arrack contractor and finally a person to be reckoned with in liquor business, the release said. He owned seven bars and restaurants in twin cities and 28 wine shops in and around Hyderabad and in Mahabubnagar and Medak districts. The release said Balraj was involved in several cases of trespass, land grabbing and excise and had been detained under Preventive Detention Act. Licenses for all those wine shops were obtained by him under benami (in the name of his relatives) and he had arranged finance for the same.
He also had arranged communication network by providing cell phones and also vehicles to the staff of wine shops and belt shops, the release said, adding Balaraj coordinated the activities of all the shops and managed through his wide network of the enforcement agencies by paying regular and recurrent bribes to ensure that there were no obstacles to their illegal acts. The liquor leader confessed that flow of Non-Duty Paid liquor to Andhra Pradesh was rampant from the states of Haryana, Chandigarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra and that the border check posts were managed. Flow of NDP liquor was rampant in Rayalaseema districts, Nellore, Ongole, Nizamabad where about 75 per cent of sale was only from NDP liquor which indicated huge revenue loss to the exchequer, the release added. UNI