As the death toll in the Punjab spurious liquor tragedy continues to rise, the case has picked up the pace with action now being taken against some senior officials in the state. Majority of the deaths have taken place in Tarn Taran, Batala and Amritsar districts of the state since Wednesday.
While the toll in the hooch tragedy mounted to 86 on Saturday — 63 deaths in Tarn Taran, 12 in Amritsar Rural at 12 and 11 in Gurdaspur (Batala) — seven excise officials, six policemen were suspended in connection with the incident. The total number of arrests in the case has also gone up to 25. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia compensation to each of the families of the deceased.
1. As the death toll in the Punjab hooch tragedy rose to 86, the Punjab police on Saturday arrested 17 more persons in a massive crackdown. More than 100 raids were conducted in the three affected districts — Amritsar Rural, Gurdaspur and Tarn Taran — along with several other places in and around the Rajpura and Shambhu border. The total number of arrests in the case has gone up to 25.
2. Govinderbir Singh alias Gobinda, the mafia mastermind accused of bringing spurious liquor from Tarn Taran to the Amritsar Rural area; kingpin Darshan Rani alias Faujan; transport owner Prem Singh; Bhinda, who is a wanted criminal by Tarn Taran police; and owners/managers of various dhabas from where the illicit liquor was being supplied are among the arrested accused, DGP Dinkar Gupta said. The dhabas, identified as Zilmil Dhaba, Green Dhaba, Chhinda Dhaba on Shambhu, and Banur and Rajpura in Patiala, have been sealed.
3. As much as 750 litres of Lahan had been seized from village Baghaura from where two persons, Satnam and Rashem, were arrested while another, identified as Lakhwinder, was also identified as a culprit.
4. According to the DGP: In the raid at Jhilmil dhaba, whose manager Narinder Singh was arrested, 200 litres of Lahan ( a type of illicit liquor) was seized. The dhaba owner Harjit Singh has also been named in the FIR. At Green Dhaba near Rajpura Chandigarh Road, approximately 200 litres of Diesel like liquid was recovered, which truck drivers were selling to the dhaba owner. The dhaba has also been sealed and its owner Gurjant Singh has been arrested. One Narinder Singh, the owner of Multani Dhaba, has also been arrested in the case, said the DGP. Another 150 litres of Lahan was recovered from one Parminder Singh and 200 litres from Baljit Singh. Both these men have also been arrested. Raids were also conducted at the house of Rupinder Singh alias Bittu, who is a friend of Hardeep Singh alias Goldy who was arrested earlier by the CIA Jalandhar Rural.
5. Describing the modus operandi of the accused, the DGP said the trucks carrying spirit would be stopped at 6-7 identified Dhaba and the Dhaba owners collected the hooch from truck drivers and sold it to one Bhinda and Bittu of a village near Banur. Bhinda was also an accused in the Rajpura factory case. The spirit was being supplied to Amritsar and surrounding areas by these people.
6. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy, unfolding since Wednesday night. He even announced Rs 2 lakh ex-gratia compensation to each of the families of the deceased on Saturday.
7. On Saturday, seven excise officials, six policemen were also suspended over Punjab hooch tragedy. During the 13th edition of his Facebook Live #AskCaptain, Amarinder Singh announced the suspension of ETOs Lovejinder Brar from Gurdaspur, BS Chahal from Amritsar and Madhur Bhatia from Tarn Taran. Excise and Taxation Inspectors (ETIs) who have been suspended with immediate effect are Ravi Kumar (Gurdaspur), Gurdeep Singh (Amritsar), Pukhraj (Fatehabad) and Hitesh Prabhakar (Tarn Taran). He also suspended Jandiala (Amritsar) and Tarn Taran DSPs. The SHOs of Amritsar’s Tarsikka, Batala City, Tarn Taran Sadar and Tarn Taran City were also suspended.
Earlier, Bikramjit Singh, the station house officer at the Amritsar’s Tarsikka police station, was also suspended.
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