A truck carrying a consignment of brandy worth more than Rs 56 lakh was stolen on its way from a bottling unit to a liquor depot in the wee hours of Saturday night in Andhra Pradesh. The Ashok Leyland truck, which itself was worth around Rs 4 lakh, was stolen from the Hyderabad - Vijayawada highway (NH 65) near Kanchikacherla village in Krishna district.
Venkateshwara Rao, who owns and drives the truck, was carrying a truckful of Old Admiral brandy from Sentini Beverages in the nearby Gandepalli village, according to Kanchikacherla Sub-Inspector. On Saturday, he was on his way to a liquor depot in Tenali town in Guntur district when he stopped at Kanchikacherla around 10 pm to go home for dinner. When he returned from his dinner break around 2 am, the truck had gone missing from the spot where it was parked.
Kanchikacherla SI said, “It looks like the culprits broke the window, picked the lock and made away with the truck. Usually, when such incidents happen, you often find remnants of the disassembled vehicle somewhere nearby, with the tyres and a few other parts stolen. So the owner searched in nearby areas all night but was unable to find it. Finally, on Sunday morning, around 10 am, he came to the police station and registered a complaint.”
He also said that a few suspects, who have committed similar thefts in the past, are being interrogated, but no traces of the vehicle have been found so far.
Earlier in the month of May, two different accidents involving beer trucks had occurred in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. A truck in Kurnool district in Andhra Pradesh had caught fire, destroying 15,600 bottles worth Rs 15 lakh. The driver of the truck had suffered burn injuries. In another incident in Hyderabad’s Begumpet area, a beer truck had tipped over causing traffic disruption during Monday morning rush hour. First-aid was provided to commuters who suffered minor injuries.