Vigilance dept conducts raids on Beverages Corporation outlets

Thiruvananthapuram: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau conducted State-wide raids on 62 outlets of the Kerala State Beverages Corporation and found numerous malpractices in liquor sale, officials said Tuesday.

Simultaneous raids were conducted Monday at the outlets of the Beverages Corporation (BEVCO) and Kerala State Co-operatives Consumers' Federation Ltd (Consumerfed) after the VACB got complaints that Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) were sold for rates higher than prescribed.

Vigilance Director Anil Kant, in a release, said the raid teams found that certain outlets were selling liquor for higher price without showing the real price in the bill or by tearing away the part which shows the real rice.

"Out of the many irregularities, we found that thousands of rupees were drawn for purchasing newspaper to wrap the liquor bottles from the counter but none of the bottles were wrapped," the release said.

The team also found that there were no proper rate card displayed in the outlets and the local brands were not sold even as they were in stock.

"We will submit the report regarding the irregularities to the government soon," the Vigilance director said.