Fake liquor brand labels racket busted by Telangana STF in Kushaiguda; 2 held

Hyderabad: The Telangana State Task Force (STF) has unearthed a large-scale racket involved in printing fake liquor brand labels and duplicate holographic excise adhesive labels (HEALs).

The operation, based out of a clandestine printing press in Kushaiguda, supplied counterfeit material to racketeers in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

The fake packaging covered popular liquor brands such as AC Black Whisky, No. 1 Mc Whisky, Old Admiral Brandy, Kerala Malted Whisky and Royal Stag Whisky.

The press owner, Gaddameedi Naveen Goud, had earlier been arrested on August 23 and is currently lodged in Huzurnagar Sub-Jail as Accused No. 9.

Two suspects were arrested during the raid and were identified as Gaddameedi Prakash, business partner of Naveen Goud, resident of Kushaiguda; and Nenavath Rajesh, assistant of Naveen Goud, resident of Sonia Gandhi Nagar, Kushaiguda.

Raid in Kushaiguda

Acting on a tip-off, STF teams raided a press in Shiva Sai Nagar Colony, Nagarjuna Sagar Colony, Kushaiguda, operated by Gaddameedi Naveen Goud (Accused No. 9 in the Huzurnagar spurious liquor case) and his associates.

Inside the unit, officials found a multi-colour flexo printing machine, cutting dyes, adhesive paper bundles, thousands of fake pouches and flexo plates of several leading liquor brands.

Fake labels of Royal Stag, Old Admiral and others found

Among the seized material were 1 Flexo Multi-Colour Printing Machine (RK Flexo brand), 27 flexo plates of brands including Royal Stag, AC Black, Old Admiral, Kerala Malted Whisky, and Manjeera Blue, 31,900 Amrut Silver Cup brandy pouches (for Karnataka market), four cutting dyes used for excise labels and brand stickers, 600m adhesive silver paper rolls for HEALs, 11 adhesive paper bundles of 1,500m each, and 2 spools containing 5,000 ready-to-use HEALs.

Officials confirmed that the press had been operational for over 18 months, producing fake excise labels and brand stickers on a large scale.

Link to wider liquor racket

Investigations revealed that the counterfeit labels and HEALs were being supplied to Ruttala Srinivas, alleged to be the key organiser of the spurious liquor racket across Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka.

The arrested accused were handed over to the Prohibition & Excise Station, Huzurnagar, to be produced before the court as A10 and A11 in Crime No. 189/2025.