GURUGRAM: The Enforcement Directorate searched 10 premises on Tuesday, November 3, and Wednesday, November 4, in a money laundering investigation concerning imported liquor sold through Gurugram's The Theka outlet. According to the agency's account carried in reports published on November 4, the searches across Delhi NCR, Haryana and Punjab resulted in the seizure of Rs 11 lakh in cash, documents and electronic records relating to liquor supplies.

The operation was conducted by the agency's Gurugram Zonal Office. Its official office directory places the local office in Sector 28, on MG Road in the Chakkarpur and Saraswati Vihar area. The case concerns the alleged diversion of imported liquor into the Gurugram retail market, rather than an announcement changing opening hours or licensing conditions for all city outlets.

How investigators say the stock reached Gurugram

The ED's account describes an alleged misuse of transfers between bonded warehouses. Such transfers allow imported liquor to move between designated warehouses without immediate payment of the duties concerned. Investigators alleged that consignments shown as destined for warehouses in Goa or Maharashtra were instead diverted to liquor outlets in Gurugram with the involvement of transporters.

According to the reported investigation findings, separate companies were established in Haryana and Goa or Maharashtra, and customs licences and transfer documentation were obtained. Payments to foreign suppliers were made through banking channels before the consignments entered bonded warehouses in Haryana. The allegation concerns what happened to the stock after that stage, when its declared destination and actual retail route allegedly diverged.

The liquor was allegedly presented to customers as legitimate stock despite lacking the required holograms and tracking strips. Investigators said the arrangement bypassed customs duties, state excise taxes, cesses and other applicable charges. These remain allegations in an investigation; the searches and seizure do not establish the guilt of any person associated with the business or its suppliers.

The agency has linked the alleged arrangement to licences obtained for the 2025 to 2027 period. Its account says more than one lakh bottles were procured and sold between June and November 2025. It estimates that the alleged illegal sales generated profits of 20 to 25 per cent and proceeds of crime exceeding Rs 10 crore.

The earlier seizure and the new searches

The November operation follows a case arising from an excise department complaint. According to the account of the investigation, excise officials seized 3,921 cases and 176 loose bottles of imported liquor from The Theka on December 9, 2025. The stock allegedly did not carry the required holograms and tracking strips. That seizure is background to this week's action, rather than a fresh recovery of those bottles.

Haryana Police subsequently registered a case and filed a chargesheet concerning the alleged illegal sale and misuse of the warehouse transfer system. The ED investigation is based on those police proceedings. The agency also referred to another police case concerning alleged sales of spurious liquor by certain members of the suspected network.

The fresh searches covered residences and offices associated with the outlet, foreign liquor suppliers, other alleged suppliers and transporters. The latest recoveries include information about procurement and movement under the warehouse transfer arrangement. The Rs 11 lakh cash seizure is distinct from the agency's much larger estimate of alleged proceeds: one is a reported recovery during searches, while the other is its assessment of the suspected operation.

  • Search dates: November 3 and 4, 2026.
  • Premises searched: 10 across Delhi NCR, Haryana and Punjab.
  • Cash reportedly seized: Rs 11 lakh.
  • Investigating office: ED Gurugram Zonal Office.

What the money laundering investigation covers

The directorate's official explanation of its functions says its responsibilities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act include tracing assets derived from alleged criminal proceeds, provisional attachment and prosecution. Confiscation is a matter for the Special Court. Those are the agency's general statutory functions, and should not be read as confirmation that each step has occurred in this case.

The ED said further investigation is continuing. The material recovered during the November searches concerns the supply chain and financial trail. Readers following local enforcement can also see the separate reports on a narcotics seizure, police property action in Ghata and Wazirabad and the city's firecracker enforcement teams. Those are separate proceedings and do not form part of the liquor investigation.