ANANTAPUR : Excise officials conducted a raid and seized 9,120 litres of fermented black plum extract worth Rs 45.6 lakh at Uddehal village in Bommanahal mandal on Wednesday. Excise deputy commissioner Vijay Sekhar said that his officials raided the farmhouse owned by one P Maruthi Prasad and found 456 cans, each containing 20 litres of fermented black plum juice.
The highly fermented black plum extract was being sold with the brand name ‘Natural Homemade Jamun Fruit Juice’ to locals by Maruthi Prasad. Since it had alcoholic content, it sold like hot cakes. A litre bottle of the brew was sold at Rs 500. Prasad would add sugar, amla and bitternut powder to produce the wine-like liquid.According to Vijay Sekhar, Maruthi Prasad did a brisk business by selling the intoxicating juice in Bommanhal mandal, Ballari and other nearby areas.
Prasad, who built a farmhouse and a residential quarter, was carrying on his business without obtaining any licence from the excise department. Food inspectors from Anantapur, who participated in the raid, collected samples of the brew and sent to the laboratory for tests. Following the raid, Prasad vanished from his farmhouse. Vijay Sekhar said a case was registered and all the cans were seized.