HYDERABAD: Police in Madhapur busted a fake liquor racket after arresting two individuals who were refilling expensive liquor bottles with cheap alcohol and selling them as premium brands.
The incident came to light at Troops Bar located in Ayyappa Society, Madhapur. V. Satyanarayana Reddy and Puneet Patnaik were arrested during an excise department raid. Authorities discovered that they were refilling empty high-end whiskey bottles with lower-quality liquor and passing them off as premium brands to unsuspecting customers.
During the raid, officials caught them in the act while they were mixing Oaksmith liquor, priced around ₹1,000, into a Jameson whiskey bottle valued at ₹2,690. Excise officials seized 75 refilled bottles and 55 empty bottles during the operation. Investigations revealed that the accused had been purchasing empty branded bottles from local wine shops and reusing them for their racket.
This is not an isolated incident. Recently, a similar fake liquor racket was exposed in Nalgonda district, where gangs were refilling branded bottles with adulterated liquor mixed with spirit and water to avoid colour discrepancies.
The accused in these rackets typically select premium brands such as Blenders Pride, Teachers, Black Label, Johnnie Walker, and Black Dog. They source empty bottles from bars and wine shops, remove a portion of the original liquor, and refill the bottles with ordinary liquor brought from Karnataka. Special experts from other states were hired to carefully remove bottle caps without damaging them, with workers reportedly earning substantial daily wages.
The adulterated liquor was being supplied to wine shops and belt shops in Chandoor, Nampally, and Munugode areas. A bottle worth ₹1,200 was being sold for ₹700, and a ₹2,000 bottle was being sold for ₹1,200, allowing liquor traders and belt shop operators to make hefty profits.
