Being investigated for excess assets, Cong ex-MLA Kuldeep Vaid booked for keeping excess liquor

During the raid in Ludhiana on Tuesday. (Express Photo: Gurmeet Singh)

Ludhiana Range Senior Superintendent of Police (VB) Ravinder Pal Singh Sandhu said during the searches on Monday, a large number of liquor bottles were found. Vaid and his son had one permit each to keep some bottles but the recovery was beyond the permissible limit, he said, adding following the recovery they informed the excise department, which got the FIR registered after physical verification of the recovered liquor.

Based on Excise Inspector Mandeep Singh’s statement, an FIR has been registered at Division No. 5 police station under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Punjab Excise Act.

As per the FIR (copy with The Indian Express), 90 bottles of liquor including whiskey, scotch, wine and champagne were recovered from Vaid’s residence. After verification of two permits produced by Vaid’s son Harkarandeep Singh Vaid — -one in name of his father and the other in his own name — on the spot, it was found that the Congress leader was in possession of 16 bottles more than the permissible limit under the issued permits. Of the total recovery, at least seven liquor bottles meant for sale only in Chandigarh were also found at Vaid’s residence, which is in Sarabha Nagar of Ludhiana.

As per the FIR, the total recovered liquor is worth Rs 4.10 lakh in open market.

As per rule 22-A of Punjab Liquor Permit and Pass Rules, one permit holder can keep 24 bottles (750 ml each), 48 bottles beer and 24 bottles wine, read the FIR.

The FIR adds that on checking it was found that at least 16 bottles were in excess of permissible quantities under the permit.

Vaid, who was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha from Gill assembly constituency in 2017, had served as the deputy commissioner of Moga and as additional chief administrator at Greater Ludhiana Development Authority. He also served as Ludhiana’s district transport officer. He was also appointed chairman of the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation when Charanjit Singh Channi was the chief minister of Punjab.

The Congress leader, who lost to the AAP’s Jiwan Singh Sanghowal in the 2022 polls, has termed vigilance action against him as “political vendetta” by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government.