Under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002 (PMLA), the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has provisionally attached immovable assets totalling Rs. 9.31 Crore. These assets include an industrial plot in Solan, Himachal Pradesh, with a factory and building valued at Rs. 5.31 Crore belonging to M/s Kala Amb Distillery and Brewery Pvt. Ltd, and a land measuring 22504 Sq. mtr. along with a factory and building worth Rs. 4 Crore at Holongi Village, Arunachal Pradesh, in the name of Dorjee Phuntso Khrime.
Based on many FIRs and chargesheets filed by the Bihar Police under the Indian Panel Code, 1860, against M/s Sunil Bhardwaj and others for the illicit sale of alcohol in the state of Bihar, the ED began an investigation.
Sunil Bhardwaj is the owner of M/s Kala AMB rewery and Distillery Pvt Ltd, which is located in Village-Bhangla, Dist. – Solan, Himachal Pradesh, according to an ED probe. In order to obtain licenses for the establishment of distillery units and the operation of liquor stores in the Arunachal Pradesh region, Sunil Bhardwaj, in collusion with his accomplice, Dorjee Phuntso Khrime, s/o Nima Tsering Khrime, of Papum Pare, Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, has incorporated a number of entities.
The ED probe further showed that Sunil Bhardwaj and Dorjee Phuntso Khrime are unlawfully selling liquor made or bottled by them into the state of Bihar through a network of their organizations that they claim to be involved in. It further reveals that alcohol was sent from the Kala Amb Distillery & Brewery Pvt. Ltd. plant intended for Arunachal Pradesh, but Sunil Bhardwaj and Dorjee Phuntso Khrime directed that it be sent to Bihar instead.
It is also seen that they opened many bank accounts through the network of their affiliated organizations in order to receive money from the purchasers of the illicit liquor supplied in Bihar, producing Proceeds of Crime. According to an investigation, scheduling offences have resulted in the deposit of Rs. 9.31 Crore in cash into the bank accounts of Sunil Bhardwaj and Dorjee Phuntso Khrime’s companies/entities in Bihar. Additional research is currently being conducted.
