Sangrur hooch tragedy: Alcohol with methanol used for making spurious liquor, says Punjab Police

Alcohol containing methanol content was used for making spurious liquor which left 20 people dead in Punjab's Sangrur district, police said on Saturday.

Police have arrested eight out of the 10 identified accused in connection with the Sangrur hooch tragedy, they said.

The death toll due to the suspected consumption of spurious liquor in Sangrur district has climbed to 20, with six more people succumbing during treatment, officials on Saturday said.

Eleven people are undergoing treatment at Patiala's Rajindra Hospital and six at the Civil Hospital in Sangrur.

The officials said the casualties have been reported from Gujran, Tibbi Ravidaspura and Dhandoli Khurd villages in Dirba and Sunam blocks.

A four-member special investigation team (SIT), led by Additional Director General of Police Gurinder Singh Dhillon, was set up on Saturday in connection with the incident.

Addressing the media here, ADGP Dhillon said three FIRs have been lodged so far in connection with this incident.

Out of 10, eight accused including two masterminds -- Harmanpreet Singh and Gurlal Singh -- have been arrested, he said.

Police have also recovered spurious liquor and other equipment used for manufacturing and labelling it from their possession.

Investigation revealed that alcohol with methanol content from a factory in Noida was procured by the accused.

Methanol is used in many industrial products, he said, adding that ''It has a major content of methanol which is fatal." Dhillon said both Harmanpreet and Gurlal, who had a criminal past, had planned it when they were in the Sangrur jail.

ADGP Dhillon said accused Harmanpreet, after procuring methanol from Noida based factory, was preparing spurious liquor at his home and selling it after packing it in liquor bottles and putting the label of the liquor brand ''Shahi'' written in Hindi.

The accused prepared brand labels using a printer at home, while he had procured the bottle cap installation machine from Ludhiana.

He said the masterminds were using a local contact Manpreet Singh alias Mani to sell the spurious liquor.

''The accused was targeting labourers to sell the spurious liquor at half the price,'' he added.

Replying to a question, Dhillon said police would investigate whether there was any conspiracy angle or a profit motive behind the incident.

So far, investigations reveal that the accused were selling a liquor bottle, which was priced at Rs 280 was being sold at a rate of Rs 140, he said, adding that most of the victims were daily wagers.

The ADGP said police have papers regarding the procurement of methanol and have added Section 120-B ( criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to investigate the role of factories from where they procured it.

The accused had procured a total of 300 litres of methanol chemical, he said.

The ADGP said the police have also invoked the stringent section 61-A of the Excise Act in all three FIRs.

Section 61-A is punishable with imprisonment for life or the death penalty, he added.

Dhillon said three FIRs have been lodged at police stations Dirba, City Sunam and Cheema in this case.

He said the SIT will meticulously probe the case from all angles to take the investigation to the logical conclusion and a challan will be produced in a court promptly.

Meanwhile, the SIT head appealed to residents of affected as well as nearby villages to refrain from consuming liquor purchased from unauthorised sources.

The SIT would supervise the uncovering of the backward and forward linkages, in this case, said police.

Deputy Inspector General (Patiala Range) Harcharan Bhullar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur, Sartaj Chahal, and Additional Commissioner (Excise) Naresh Dubey are part of the SIT.

Those arrested have been identified as Soma Kaur, Rahul alias Sanju and Pardeep Singh alias Babi, all residents of Chauwas in Cheema; Gurlal Singh of village Ubhawal in Sangrur, Harmanpreet Singh of village Taipur in Patiala, Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh of village Rogla; and Manpreet Singh alias Mani and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi, both residents of village Gujjran in Dirba.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)