The death toll due to the suspected consumption of spurious liquor in Punjab’s Sangrur district has risen to 20, with six more people succumbing, officials on Saturday said. Apart from the deceased, at least 17 others are undergoing treatment at hospitals.
Police have so far arrested six people in connection with the hooch tragedy. A case has also been registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Excise Act.
Of the 17 people who fell unwell after consuming the spurious liquor, eleven people are undergoing treatment at Patiala’s Rajindra Hospital and six at the Civil Hospital in Sangrur.
The officials said that the casualties have been reported from Gujran, Tibbi Ravidaspura and Dhandoli Khurd villages in the Dirba and Sunam blocks of Sangrur district.
Action Taken So Far
The police on Saturday said that a high-level committee has been set up to supervise the uncovering of the backward and forward linkages in a professional and scientific manner to unearth the nexus behind the whole matter.
A four-member special investigation team (SIT), led by an additional director general of police (ADGP) Law & Order Gurinder Dhillon, and consisting of DIG Patiala Range Harcharan Bhullar, SSP Sangrur Sartaj Chahal & Additional Commissioner (Excise) Naresh Dubey, has been set up in connection with the incident.
The district administration has already formed a five-member committee, led by the Dirba sub-divisional magistrate, to investigate the matter.
The police had earlier recovered 200 litres of ethanol, 156 bottles of alcohol, 130 bottles containing suspected spurious liquor with labelling, 80 bottles containing spurious liquor without labelling, 4,500 empty bottles and a bottling machine etc.
The police had said with the arrests made until Thursday it had busted a gang which had just started selling spurious liquor in the area in view of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The gang could have affected the conduct of the elections by luring the voters, the police had said in a statement.
A survey was also being conducted in the affected villages to find out if anyone else reported symptoms of deterioration in health.
AAP Govt Under Fire
The AAP government has been under fire from the opposition parties Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) over the Sangrur Hooch tragedy.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal has said the Sangrur hooch tragedy was indicative of the state of affairs in Punjab as well as those in chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s home district of Sangrur, even as he demanded a judicial probe into the tragedy.
Congress leader Partap Singh Bajwa has also criticised Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann for his “failure” to fix responsibility for the tragedy and seek the resignation of Harpal Cheema.
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