As death toll due to spurious liquor crosses 90, UP CM Yogi Adityanath orders SIT probe

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.

Yogi Adityanath (Source: PTI)

Lucknow: As the death toll of people who lost their lives after consumption of spurious liquor mounted to 90 in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand; the Yogi government on late Sunday night ordered formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the tragedy. As per party spokespersons, The SIT which has been ordered by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, will be headed by Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Sanjay Singhal. The government has asked to submit a report on the same within 10 working days. 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 also submit recommendations to ensure that there is no repetition of such incidents in future. The latest action of the government came against the backdrop of a blame game over the twin incidents with Adityanath referring to the involvement of the Samajwadi Party in "such mischievous acts" in the past and BSP supremo Mayawati seeking a CBI probe into the matter which she said was a result of "sheer callousness" of the BJP government.

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi issues a statement on the death of over 100 people in #UttarPradesh and Uttarakhand due to consumption of spurious liquor, asks BJP governments in both states to take stern action against those responsible for the #hooch tragedy. pic.twitter.com/mIGlYjetGS

— ABP News (@abpnewstv) February 10, 2019

Adityanath, from his home turf Gorakhpur, warned of stern action against all those found involved in illicit liquor trade even if they were associated with any political party. "In the past too, such type of mischievous acts by SP leaders had come to fore. In Azamgarh, Hardoi, Kanpur and Barabanki, SP leaders were found to be involved in past hooch tragedies. We can't deny conspiracy this time too," Yogi told reporters Saturday night.