Chandigarh: Liquor contractor in dock for giving fake bank surety for vend
M/s Brother and Company, located in Sector 37 D, Chandigarh, had successfully bid for licensing Unit-42 under the Excise Policy for a whopping ₹6.51 crore
A liquor contractor has been booked by the Chandigarh Police for allegedly submitting a forged bank guarantee of ₹32.6 lakh to the excise and taxation department to secure a liquor vend under the UT Excise Policy 2024-25, causing a significant loss to the exchequer.
The case dates back to 2024. M/s Brother and Company, located in Sector 37 D, Chandigarh, had successfully bid for licensing Unit-42 under the Excise Policy for a whopping ₹6.51 crore. As per the policy, the firm was required to deposit 13% of the total bid amount within seven bank working days, of which 5% was to be submitted as a refundable bank guarantee and the remaining 8% as an upfront payment through RTGS/DD or online transfer.
The contractor submitted a bank guarantee dated April 28, 2024, valued at ₹32,60,000 to the department. However, when the firm defaulted on the instalment due in September 2024, the department moved to encash the bank guarantee to recover dues.
On November 20, 2024, the department wrote to HDFC Bank’s Sector 37D branch seeking encashment of the bank guarantee. In response, the bank issued a letter on December 5, 2024, categorically stating that the guarantee was never issued by the bank, thereby exposing the forgery.
Following this, the excise department cancelled the vend allotment and launched recovery proceedings by writing to multiple authorities, including district collector and tehsildar of Hoshiarpur, Punjab, for property attachment, lead bank manager and state bankers committee, state transport commissioners of Haryana and Punjab and Registering Licensing Authority, Chandigarh.
On January 14, 2025, a formal complaint was lodged with the economics offence wing (EOW). After thorough inquiry, the police submitted a report on March 18, 2025, recommending registration of a criminal case.
The inquiry also revealed that the firm had submitted other documents such as partnership agreements, PAN cards, and surety bonds. However, one of the sureties alleged that his signature might have been forged and denied any knowledge of the transaction, raising further suspicion of criminal conspiracy.
An FIR has been registered under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code after a detailed inquiry by the police on the complaint of collector (excise) Harshinder Pal Singh.
