The WBSBCL was established during the tenure of the then finance minister Amit Mitra with the stated objective of streamlining the liquor supply chain, plugging revenue leakages and curbing the circulation of illicit liquor following a series of hooch tragedies in the state.
Former West Bengal Excise Commissioner Randhir Kumar, during whose tenure the West Bengal State Beverages Corporation Limited (WBSBCL) was established in 2017, has corroborated The Statesman’s news report of a possible liquor scam in the state, suggesting that things were going fine till certain changes were introduced in 2021.
The WBSBCL was established during the tenure of the then finance minister Amit Mitra with the stated objective of streamlining the liquor supply chain, plugging revenue leakages and curbing the circulation of illicit liquor following a series of hooch tragedies in the state.
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“Yes, WBSBCL was established during my tenure and under my leadership so that the government could exercise control over the entire system. In effect, WBSBCL functioned as a wholesaler. It was never intended to serve as a mechanism for collecting money for any political leader or political party,” Mr Kumar told The Statesman.
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“Before I joined the excise department, revenue earnings stood at around Rs 3,800 crore in 2016. By 2019, the figure had increased to Rs 11,874 crore. Nothing improper occurred during my tenure,” he said. “As far as I know, certain changes took place in 2021,” Kumar added.
Meanwhile, the BJP once again trained guns on the TMC.
“EMC – extortion manipulation commission seems to be the guiding principle of all the changes that were made in liquor policy thereby resulting in windfall gain for first family of TMC. It seems to be a pattern whether it be DMK in TN, AAP in Punjab or Congress in Chhattisgarh. All these things were done as if the policy was made for the corrupt, by the corrupt and only and only of corrupt people,” said BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla.
A 21-page report titled: “Analysis on Supply Chain Management of Liquor Trade in West Bengal”, dated 13 August, 2021, seen by The Statesman, bore the signatures of five excise officials.
They included then Special Commissioner (Revenue) Goutam Ghosh; Special Commissioner (HR) Kunal Biswas; Additional Commissioner (Revenue) Rajarshi Chakraborty; Senior Joint Commissioner (Revenue) Santanu Acharya and Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) Sanchayan Ganguly.
One of the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “As far as I can recall, the finance department had instructed that a committee be constituted at the time. I may have been a member of that committee. The committee examined the matter and submitted its recommendations to the state government.”
Meanwhile, a senior officer, on condition of anonymity, told The Statesman: “A few years back during a meeting of Country Spirit Bottlers at Salt Lake in Kolkata a henchman of Abhishek Banerjee barged in forcibly with four armed men. Bottlers finally had to accept the proposal for paying Rs 2.5 per bottle. It was just the beginning of the nefarious collection from liquor business.”
The officer added that the share of consumption of country spirit (CS) was around 30 per cent, while country-made foreign liquor (FL) accounted for nearly 70 per cent of the market.
According to this officer, this disparity led to the formulation of a new mechanism for collecting illicit funds. The officer further alleged that around 75 per cent of the total collection was earmarked for Camac Street, Abhishek Banerjee’s office.
Records examined by The Statesman indicate that 18 distributors were appointed during the period in question, of whom 13 were foreign liquor distributors and five were country spirit distributors. Sources further alleged that after the transfer of Goutam Ghosh, who was later promoted to the IAS cadre and posted to the finance department, operational control passed to other officials within the corporation.
Ghosh did not respond to repeated telephone calls seeking comment.
Sources also alleged that Sudeshna Chakraborty, Special Commissioner of Excise (Revenue III) and General Manager (Operations), WBSBCL, subsequently played a key operational role in the corporation since 2024.
The sources further claimed that payment cycles of certain bottlers were used as leverage to coerce them.
When contacted, Chakraborty denied all allegations.
She said no such transactions had taken place and maintained that no evidence of such activities existed in the audit reports of WBSBCL.
Meanwhile, industry sources said resentment is growing among bottlers of country spirit and foreign liquor manufacturers following recent disclosures. According to them, the issue could develop into a larger controversy in the coming days.
State Cabinet minister Tapas Roy said on the developments: “Wherever you look, there is corruption. Trinamul Congress ministers, MLAs and MPs are all involved in these corrupt practices. For the past 15 years, they have done nothing except serve their own interests. Funds meant for the people and for the development of West Bengal have been misappropriated to enhance their own wealth and influence.
“Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee are linked to every major scam. There is hardly any scandal in which they are not involved. No scam has taken place against Mamata Banerjee’s wishes, and there is hardly any controversy in which Abhishek Banerjee’s name does not feature.”
On the question of intervention by Central agencies, Roy said that it goes without saying that such intervention is necessary and should take place.
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