Noida pub sells cheap liquor in expensive bottles, 2 held; license to be suspended

The Excise Department has busted a pub located inside a mall in Noida where cheaper brands of liquor were filled in bottles of expensive brands and served to customers, officials said on Thursday.

District Excise Officer Subodh Kumar Srivastava said two staff members of Clinque, a pub located inside Gardens Galleria mall, have been arrested and proceedings initiated for suspending its liquor license.

"We conducted a raid at the pub on Tuesday evening with the support of local police. Pub staffers were caught red handed while mixing cheaper liquor in bottles of expensive brands. The raid was carried out after a tip-off about the malpractice," Srivastava said.

He said during the raid, a staffer was found working clandestinely on an upper deck inside the kitchen area of the pub and found transferring cheaper Sterling Reserve brand into bottles of relatively more expensive Black Dog, Teachers Highlands.

"We have initiated proceedings for suspending the pub's liquor license," the DEO told PTI.

An FIR has been registered and two persons -- Mohammad Nawaz, a native of Dinajpur in West Bengal and Mahesh Kumar of Rae Bareli -- were arrested while 293 bottles of foreign liquor and 395 beer cans seized from the spot, he added.