Allegations On Liquor Brands: Govt to file case against MP Raghu Ramakrishna Raju

Vijayawada: The State government has decided to file a criminal case against Naraspuram MP Raghu Ramakrishna Raju on the charges of defaming and causing loss to the government with his false allegations on presence of harmful substances in the liquor supplied by APBCL.

It may be noted that Raghu RamaKrishna Raju has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioning that harmful substances "Scoparone", "Volkenin" and "Pyrogallol" have been found in the liquor samples sold in the retail outlets of APSBCL.

The media release stated that certain individuals have sent the unauthorised liquor samples which cannot be confirmed if the samples were bought in the State of Andhra Pradesh and more specifically whether from any outlets of APSBCL.

Also, whether the samples were submitted for testing were tampered or untampered in the State is also not clear. These unauthorised samples were sent to SGS labs for testing. In this context, APSBCL requested SGS Labs to confirm the said reports. SGS has informed that the samples were not tested as per the Standard IS 4449 (whisky) and IS 4450 (brandy) as that was not requested by the individuals who submitted the samples for testing. Also, SGS has not interpreted or ascertained that the substances "Scoparone", "Volkenin" and "Pyrogallol" found in the samples were harmful.

Further, the Chemical Laboratory (Guntur) has stated that for the above mentioned substances there are no values and permissible limits are not mentioned and they appear to be in trace level. To improve the testing of alcohol in the State of Andhra Pradesh, APSBCL has increased the number of samples taken up for testing along with improved methods of testing and so far, no incidence of harmful substances present has come to the notice of the Department. Currently, all the liquor brands manufactured in the distilleries in Andhra Pradesh were given permission prior to 2019.