Punjab CM orders probe into liquor tragedy as death toll reaches 38

Following a report where as many as 38 people were lost their lives after consuming the spurious liquor, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Friday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the matter. As of now, 10 persons had died of spurious liquor consumption in Amritsar Rural, nine in Batala and 19 in Tarn Taran.

Chandigarh: Even as at least 38 persons died due to alleged consumption of spurious liquor in Amritsar, Batala and Tarn Taran districts of Punjab, Chief Minister Amarinder Singh today ordered a magisterial inquiry led by the Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner into the matter.

As of now, 10 persons had died of spurious liquor consumption in Amritsar Rural, nine in Batala and 19 in Tarn Taran. The death toll could rise further as the spurious liquor network was evidently spread across many areas of the state.

As per the report, Punjab police have arrested seven bootleggers arrested from Amritsar Rural, Batala and Tarn Taran districts in over 40 raids conducted by five teams led by senior officers.

With these arrests, the total number of persons apprehended so far in the spurious liquor deaths case has gone up to eight, including Balwinder Kaur, who was arrested last night from Muchhal village, PS Tarsikka.

The Chief Minister has given Commission the liberty to co-opt any civil or police officer or any expert to facilitate the expeditious conduct of the inquiry. He promised strict action against anyone found guilty in the case.

Taking serious note, Amarinder Singh also directed the police to launch a search operation to crack down on spurious liquor manufacturing units operating in the state.

Further investigations are in progress under the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by SSP Amritsar-Rural, from where the first cases were reported. The post-mortems of four victims - Jaswinder Singh, Kashmir Singh, Kirpal Singh and Jaswant Singh - will be conducted to ascertain the exact cause of the deaths.

Giving details of the case, Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta said the first five deaths were reported from Mucchal and Tangra villages in Amritsar Rural area on the night of June 29.

On July 30 evening, two more persons died in suspicious circumstances in Muchhal, while one person was hospitalised in a critical condition but later succumbed at Sri Guru Ramdas Hospital, from where he was referred by Dr Sarabjit Kaur Hospital in Tangra.

Later, two more deaths were from reported from Mucchal, while another two persons reportedly died in Batala city, also due to spurious liquor consumption.

With five more persons succumbing in Batala on Friday, the toll in the city climbed to seven. One person has been referred to the Civil Hospital in Batala in a critical condition.

(With inputs from IANS)