In a major excise enforcement action, officials of the State Taxes and Excise Department seized 200 cases of allegedly unauthorised country liquor being transported along with a licensed consignment near Badripur in Sirmaur district on Friday.

The consignment, bound for Shimla, was intercepted a few kilometres from Yamuna Beverages Private Limited (YBPL), Nariwala, in Paonta Sahib, where it had allegedly been loaded.

A subsequent raid at the bottling plant on Saturday by a seven-member excise team allegedly revealed that the unauthorised liquor had been loaded along with the licensed stock, bringing the role of the factory inspector under scrutiny.

An excise official said preliminary investigations indicated that holograms affixed to at least three cases had originally been issued for a consignment manufactured on July 13. The alleged reuse of holograms has also raised questions over the department’s trace-and-track mechanism, which is intended to monitor the movement of every liquor bottle.

State Taxes and Excise Commissioner Dr Ashwani Sharma confirmed that 200 cases of unauthorised country liquor had been seized near Badripur and said a detailed report had been sought from the field staff. “Further action will be taken on the basis of the findings,” he said.

Assistant Commissioner (Excise) Krishan Lal Finta, who led the raid, said the seized liquor, valued at around Rs 1.5 lakh, had allegedly been manufactured at the YBPL unit. He said the department had directed the plant to suspend manufacturing operations until further orders. The role of factory inspector Angesh Vimal, who oversees the plant’s operations, is also under investigation.