UP set up SIT to probe hooch tragedy

The Uttar Pradesh government late on Sunday set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the hooch tragedy which has left at least 97 dead in the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand, an official spokesman said. Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Sanjay Singhal will head the SIT, which has been mandated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to submit a report within 10 working days, officials told IANS.

Other members are Gorakhpur division Commissioner Amit Gupta, Inspector General of Police, Gorakhpur, Jai Narayan Singh, Saharanpur Commissioner Chandra Prakash Tripathi, and Inspector General of Police, Saharanpur zone, Principal Secretary, Home, Arvind Kumar said. Apart from finding out the reason leading to the tragedy, the SIT has been asked to explore possibilities of a deep-rooted conspiracy behind the incident, fix responsibility on police and excise department officials, recommend action against the guilty officials and and also submit recommendations to ensure that there is no repetition of such incidents in future.