From Biryani to Bootlegging: How gig workers fuel Delhi's booze racket
In 2022, 2 lakh bottles were seized from these points.
In 2023, the number surged to 3.5 lakh.
In 2024, it climbed to 4 lakh.
In just the first five months of 2025, 1.8 lakh bottles have already been caught.
(You can now subscribe to our
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel
Wearing a red T-shirt and an orange delivery bag, Dashrath Kumar looked like just another food delivery worker navigating the chaos of Delhi's roads. But hidden inside that bag wasn't a burger or parcel—it was illegal liquor, reported TOI.Unbeknownst to many, Kumar was under police surveillance, part of a growing crackdown on a bootlegging racket using delivery workers as unsuspecting mules. When he was finally stopped, a significant quantity of illicit alcohol was seized.Kumar isn't alone.Another man, Sourabh, who worked with a major e-commerce platform, had started delivering alcohol to earn extra money. That decision eventually led to his arrest.According to the report, just days ago, 25-year-old Khurshid was caught red-handed in southeast Delhi's Govindpuri. His unusually heavy e-cart bag held 400 bottles of liquor labelled 'For sale in Haryana only.'These cases point to a troubling trend—bootlegging rings are increasingly recruiting gig workers who move through the city unchecked and unnoticed.This isn't a one-off problem. Delhi has seen a dramatic increase in Excise Act cases—2,496 in the first quarter of 2025 alone. That's an 80% jump from the same period in 2024, which had seen only 1,382 such cases. Compared to 2023, the rise is a massive 75%.Most of the contraband is low-cost local liquor, sold in 180ml bottles for as little as ₹50. Their small size and high margin make them easy to smuggle and very profitable. Branded alcohol like rum, vodka, and whiskey also finds its way in.For those willing to take the risk, the payout can be tempting. Police say drivers are paid up to ₹30,000 per trip to transport cars stuffed with liquor, with crates filling both the boot and back seat. With that kind of money, the supply of willing carriers never dries up, TOI further reported.Most of this liquor flows in from Haryana, slipping through border points like Bajghera, Jharoda, Surakhpur and Dhansa—all feeding into the Dwarka region.Police data shows:Shidipur-Lowa, a village near Bahadurgarh on the Haryana side, has emerged as a major hub. Police say some licensed distilleries in the area exploit loopholes—while legally producing liquor, they sell part of it illegally through backdoor channels.The traffickers aren't short on imagination. "We've seen everything from sedans and trucks to e-carts and ambulances being used to transport liquor," a senior officer told the news outlet.But enforcement is getting smarter. In Dwarka, police have installed Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras that track vehicle movements and flag suspicious patterns.'Let's say a car enters Delhi from Gurgaon at 9:50 pm and exits at 11:30 pm. That short window raises a red flag for us,' DCP Ankit Singh further told TOI. 'Now, our teams get real-time alerts and can intercept quickly.'Recently, a spike in bike traffic from Gurgaon also drew attention. Plainclothes teams began monitoring hotspots like Bahadurgarh and Shidipur-Lowa more closely, especially near warehouses and transport yards.Officers have started using decoys in areas like Najafgarh and Kapashera, attempting to reach deeper into the supply network. But seasoned bootleggers remain cautious—avoiding direct sales and only dealing with people vouched for by trusted contacts.'We're adapting every day, but so are they,' an inspector involved in the operations also told TOI. 'Every time we block one route, they open another.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Delhi-based chain snatching gang busted, 10 cases solved in Nagpur
Nagpur: In a major breakthrough, the Nagpur crime branch and Dhantoli police have jointly dismantled a Delhi-based chain-snatching gang responsible for many cases across India, solving 10 cases in Nagpur alone. The gang, led by Akshay Sharma (29) from East Sagarpur, Delhi, along with accomplices Rohit Kumar (27) from Dwarka and Rohan Tike from Nangal, was nabbed after an extensive investigation aided by CCTV footage under the supervision of senior inspector Mahesh Sagade and Anamika Mirzapure (Dhantoli). The gang's modus operandi involved travelling to Nagpur via the Telangana Express, stealing two-wheelers, and targeting victims for chain-snatching before fleeing back to Delhi by train. They struck multiple times in Nagpur, including four incidents in Dhantoli, two each in Sadar and Sitabuldi, and rural areas like Butibori. The breakthrough came when the crime branch, including constables Mahendra Sadmake and Kamlesh Ganer, analysed CCTV footage from Nagpur railway station, identifying the accused arriving on the Telangana Express. They were aided by assistant PI Gajanan Chambhare. An in-depth investigation led police to scrutinise CCTV footage from railway stations at Itarsi, Bhopal, Jhansi, Gwalior, Agra, and New Delhi. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like אני סוגרת את העסק: 70% הנחה – מכירת חיסול (הקולקציה האחרונה) דו"ח יוצר היד קראו עכשיו Undo This trail confirmed the gang's origin in Delhi, with specific leads pointing to Sharma in Sagarpur and Kumar in Dwarka. A sting operation by the crime branch resulted in Sharma's arrest, followed by Kumar and Tike. During interrogation, Sharma confessed to six chain-snatching incidents and four two-wheeler thefts in Nagpur, implicating his accomplices and revealing that stolen gold was sold to Rohit Gupta, with some valuables still with Tike. The accused, habitual offenders with prior cases in Delhi, were produced before the Patiala House Court on July 11, 2025, and remanded in transit until July 14, 2025.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Minority student scholarship scam: Complaint says Rs 1.3 crore claimed in Karnataka
Bengaluru: The minority student scholarship scam, being investigated by CBI, has a Karnataka connection too. According to the district officer of the minority welfare department, over Rs 1.3 crore of fraudulent scholarship was claimed in the state between 2021 and 2023. Central CEN Crime police have initiated a probe into the scam. Bengaluru Urban district officer Pradeep Simha M, in his complaint to police Saturday, stated that 643 students were granted the scholarship despite not being eligible, and the money was fraudulently claimed by nodal officers and students. Hundreds of private colleges, their nodal officers, and students who availed themselves of the scholarship are under scrutiny. The nodal officers allegedly enrolled students from classes 10-12 for the scholarship scheme, despite them not meeting the criteria such as a minimum of 50% marks. False data of the students was uploaded to the national scholarship portal You Can Also Check: Bengaluru AQI | Weather in Bengaluru | Bank Holidays in Bengaluru | Public Holidays in Bengaluru Simha told TOI that the data of the institutions and students who fraudulently availed themselves of the scholarship was received by the central govt. A senior officer supervising the investigation said the probe is in the preliminary stage. "We have asked the complainant to provide us with more details. The list of institutions has been given to us, and we are going to serve notices to the institutions' principals, nodal officers, and students at the earliest." A case has been registered under sections 66C (punishment for identity theft) and 66D (punishment for cheating by personation by using computer resources) of the Information Technology Act.
Time of India
2 hours ago
- Time of India
Intelligence officer's son under scanner of Telangana police in inter-state drug racket probe
Hyderabad: The son of a senior Telangana intelligence wing officer has landed in the crosshairs of EAGLE, the state's anti-narcotics task force, for his suspected role in a sprawling inter-state drug racket that was recently busted in Kompally. The name of Rahul Teja surfaced during the investigation after sleuths analysed call records and other technical evidence linked to the accused. Interestingly, Teja had earlier managed to stay off the radar despite being named as a key accused in a Jan 2024 narcotics case investigated by Nizamabad police—raising eyebrows within enforcement circles. EAGLE officials began tracking Teja following the arrest of six people last week, including restaurant owner Surya Annamaneni. During questioning and technical analysis, investigators discovered Surya's alleged link with Teja, who is also from Kompally. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad 'At first, we didn't know the suspect was the son of a senior police officer,' an EAGLE source told TOI. 'But during verification, it emerged that his name had appeared in an earlier drugs case, where he was declared absconding,' he said. That case pertains to early 2024 when Nizamabad police apprehended two men, D Vikram and Khaja Mohiddin Chisty, who were transporting cocaine and MDMA along the Nagpur-Hyderabad route. Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo by Taboola by Taboola During interrogation, the duo confessed that Teja allegedly introduced them to major drug suppliers from Delhi, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh. Though he was named in the FIR and chargesheet, Teja was never arrested, nor did he obtain anticipatory bail. 'Mysteriously, he remained untouched,' the EAGLE source added. In the latest Kompally case, drugs were reportedly couriered from Delhi—concealed in a pair of shoes by a foreign national—and delivered to Surya. The footwear and drugs were later seized by police. According to the Nizamabad police chargesheet: 'The accused confessed that under Teja's instructions, they toured Delhi, Ludhiana, and Himachal Paradesh over the last week. They sourced cocaine, MDMA, and ganja powder from one Mike and his associates. The consignment was intended for Teja, his associates, and their social circle.' Apart from his alleged involvement in drug peddling, Teja also runs a restaurant in Hyderabad.
