Hooch claims 18 in Aligarh, 15 critical

Agra: Every time a bottle of a local liquor brand was discarded, it was collected carefully, its dents beaten back into shape and then refilled — with spurious liquor — to be sold across licensed country-made liquor vends in Aligarh. On Friday, at least 18 people died and 15 others were hospitalised after consuming it. Twelve people have been booked, of whom five have been arrested, including a recently elected zila panchayat member. Police said Gangster Act and National Security Act will be used against them. Three excise officials, including the district excise officer, have been suspended. This is the sixth time this year that the state has been hit by a hooch tragedy.

“Seven people who died were from Karsua village, four from Cherat and three from Andala village. Three were from other districts — Gautam Budh Nagar, Mathura, Pratapgarh — and one was from Bihar. Fifteen people are still in hospital — at Malkhan Singh District Hospital, Jawaharlal Nehru Medical College and a private hospital — undergoing dialysis,” Aligarh district magistrate CB Singh told TOI.

All of those who died were labourers or daily wagers, seven of whom were in their 30s, four in their 50s, three in their 40s, two in their 60s and one in his 20s. The age of one of them is not known. “A magisterial inquiry has been ordered and the additional district magistrate (administration) will submit his report after the probe in 15 days," the DM added.

Three FIRs have been filed against 12 individuals so far. “At Jawan, Lodha and Khair police stations, we have booked 12 people under sections 272 (adulteration of food or drink), 273 (sale of food or drink which has turned noxious), 307 (attempt to murder) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC, and Section 60A of the UP Excise Act (mixing

noxious

substance with intoxicant and selling of noxious substance under the garb of intoxicant),” Aligarh SSP Kalanidhi Naithani said.

The three main accused in the case are Anil Chaudhary, who won the recent panchayat elections as a zila panchayat member from Gonda block, Rishi Pal Sharma, a block panchayat member from Kastali and a person named Vipin Yadav, believed to be the procurer. Chaudhary and Sharma allegedly own more than 60 ‘benami’ (in which the identity of the owner is concealed) liquor vends, a police officer said. Yadav allegedly sold his illicit liquor stock at these vends.

So far, five people have been arrested. “Chaudhary, their contractor Digpal’s son Narendra, a salesperson at one of these vends Ajay, and the licensee of Karsua and Andala liquor vends Ganga Sahai,” Agra zone ADG Rajeev Krishna said. Yadav and Sharma are absconding and police have announced a Rs 50,000-reward for information about them. “Gangster Act and National Security Act will be used against them. Their illegally gained property will be seized. Six teams have been formed to investigate this,” he added.

Additional chief secretary (excise) Sanjay R Bhoosreddy, meanwhile, suspended three excise officials — district excise officer Dheeraj Sharma, Rajesh Kumar Yadav and Ashok Kumar Pradhan. Earlier in the day, Sharma had told TOI that four shops where spurious liquor was being sold have been sealed and liquor samples sent for analysis to a lab in Meerut. “Nearly 500 liquor shops, including 249 country-made liquor shops, are licensed in Aligarh. All are being temporarily shut down for the next 24 hours to collect samples,” he had added.