Guwahati: “It is unfortunate to see that few media house has dragged my name for no reason in the illicit liquor factory that was seized yesterday by the Excise department in the outskirts of Guwahati.”
The above statement was said by Jitu Goswami, Vice-chairman, Assam State Textbook Publication and Production Limited in a press briefing held in Guwahati on Friday, October 16th, 2020.
“Few media houses have reported that a truck was seized on Wednesday night in Sonapur which belonged to Himalayan Distillery, where I am one of its partners. The seized truck by the Excise department has no relation to Himalayan Distillery Private Limited or with me. It was an illegal truck which was operated by few miscreants who tried to tarnish my image by falsely framing me,” said Goswami.
“The truck was operated by a few people who are constantly trying to malign my image in the public domain. Moreover, the media house who are trying to drag me in the case are making news reports based on a hand-written transport permit,” he added.
“As a responsible organization, we know the rules regarding handling the excise operation. In the year 2016, the Bharatiya Janata Party government in the state brought changes in the regulations regarding excise transfer permit,” he said.
“In order to adhere to the accountability in our business operations, we always transfer our goods such as bottled liquor only by getting a green signal by the Assam Excise department, which now needs a digitalized copy of the permit.”
“You all know that to obtain the digital copy of the permit in order to transfer excise goods, we have to go through a long process of approvals. Himalayan Distillery Private Limited always adheres to the state government’s rule. Framing me and my company in the illicit liquor business is baseless and is an attempt by few oppositions to malign my image in the public domain,” he expressed.
One truck bearing registration AS-01-GC-4197 was seized on Wednesday night by Excise Intelligence Unit, laden with a huge consignment of illegal Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL). The police seized a hand-written permit which had a front-head of Himalayan Distillery Private Limited. However, the hand-written permit has no relations with the company and the same said permit is illegal, used by few miscreants.