ED took major action on Thursday (September 18, 2025) in the case of Andhra Pradesh liquor scam. ED raided 20 places in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Tanjavur, Surat, Raipur, Delhi-NCR and Andhra Pradesh. These raids took place in the house of companies and people who gave a kickback of crores of rupees through fake transactions and fake billing.

This action was taken under the Money Laundering Act. ED started this investigation on the basis of FIR of Andhra Pradesh CID. It was said in this FIR that the government has suffered a loss of about 4000 crores. The state government formed a special investigation team on 5 February 2025 to investigate the matter.

New and inferior brands promote

According to the complaint, the new liquor policy implemented from October 2019 to March 2024 led to a big disturbance. Popular wine brands such as McDowell’s, Royal Stag, Imperial Blue, etc. were deliberately out of the market. In his place, new and poor brands were promoted, but in return, huge amount was recovered from companies.

Earlier the liquor supply system was automatic, but it was managed to manipulate the supply order. Investigation of SIT and ED revealed that up to 15–20% kickback was sought from companies. Those who did not do this, their brands were removed from the list.

Misuse of money received from government

Fake distillery was shown on a large scale fake supply and transactions from there. Some part of the real payment received from the government was sent to fake companies and shell companies. Many companies converted money to gold and cash to leaders and officers through jewelers. These money was used for elections and personal benefits.

ED’s money trail investigation revealed that the government company APSBCL (Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited) reached the scamsters through fake bills and transactions.

Evidence of sending billions of money abroad

The investigation found evidence of fake invoices, fake transport challans, chat messages and billions of money being sent abroad. In the raids, cash of Rs 38 lakh was recovered from one place. In many documents, it has also been revealed to send money to the accused sitting Dubai. The ED has said that the investigation is still going on.

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