UP man arrested for production and sale of spurious liquor in Haridwar

Haridwar: A 45-year-old man was arrested by Haridwar police on Thursday for allegedly producing spurious liquor using chemicals like urea and dye, and selling it to customers. Anirudh Singh, originally from the Tajganj area in Agra, Uttar Pradesh, had rented a shop in Dadupur village, where he affixed fake Uttarakhand govt labels on the liquor bottles meant for sale.Singh had previously been arrested on similar charges by UP police in 2021, after which he relocated to Haridwar with his family.Police seized the chemicals and equipment used to produce the spurious liquor, and a case was filed against Singh at the Ranipur police station. Authorities are now working to arrest other suspects involved in the production.Senior superintendent of police (SSP) Pramendra Dobal said, "Anirudh Singh learnt how to make adulterated liquor from YouTube. He used to work as a sales executive at a liquor store. He and his partner took a shop on rent where they started production. They supplied directly to the consumer at a cheap rate. They were planning to supply a huge amount of adulterated liquor on Diwali. We raided the shop and recovered chemicals, dye, urea, and empty bottles of branded liquor."In 2019, 39 people died after consuming spurious liquor in the district's Bhagwanpur area. Another 11 died in the Pathri region in 2022 from similar causes during the panchayat polls.