Punjab Police Raid Another Spurious Liquor Module; Arrest 2, Trace Regular Buyers

Punjab Police has been actively probing the matter of spurious liquor mafia, as per directives from CM Capt Amarinder Singh after a recent liquor tragedy in the state led to the death of 86 people.

Representational image/ PTI

Chandigarh: The Punjab Police on Saturday raided another spurious liquor unit and arrested two from Majitha. The accused have been identified as Gurwinder Singh and Lovepreet Singh.  "Gurwinder Singh and Lovepreet Singh were following a Pandori Gola kind of modus operandi. In Pandori Gola, a father and his two sons were involved in the supply of illicit liquor in Tarn Taran, from where the largest number of hooch tragedy deaths were reported," Punjab Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said in a statement. "Raju, the man from whom Gurwinder and Lovepreet had purchased the spurious liquor, is absconding, said DGP Dinkar Gupta. He hails from Sultanwind in Amritsar and his arrest could lead to the unravelling of the whole chain of the business in this case," Gupta revealed. The police are tracing the regular customers of this module, including a person ramed Bikka. Lovepreet, one of the accused, revealed the identities of 9 regular buyers who the police are looking for. "They will all be arrested soon," the DGP assured. The police further revealed that a total of 160 litres of spurious alcohol, in 4 cans of the capacity of 40 litres each, along with 2 empty drums of the capacity of 200 litres each, 2 empty cans of the capacity of 40 litres, and 7 small pouches of 2-3 litres each, were seized from the house of Gurwinder, from where the two accused were apprehended, police said. "Chemical examination of the seized liquor has revealed that it was totally spurious and completely unfit for human consumption. Its key chemicals were 1-propanal, isobutanol, acetal, ethyl lactate and ethyl hexanoate," the DGP added. An FIR has been registered against the accused under the various sections of the Indian Penal Code and Excise Act. The probe over the menace of spurious liquor in Punjab continues as part of the order by CM Captain Amarinder Singh issued against liquor mafia. Reportedly, 100 more arrests were made in 146 cases registered in 24 hours Liquor Tragedy Recently, as many as 86 people were reported to have died in the Punjab spurious liquor tragedy following which the state government called for strict against those responsible for the incident. Several senior officials in the state were suspended, while many people in connection with the incident were arrested by the authorities. As per reports, maximum deaths took place in Tarn Taran, Batala and Amritsar districts of the state. Tarn Taran alone accounted for 63 deaths, followed by 12 in Amritsar and 11 in Gurdaspur's Batala. (With Agency Inputs) WATCH | Watch top 100 news stories of the day