Punjab hooch deaths: Ludhiana businessman who supplied methanol arrested

In a major development, a Ludhiana-based paint store owner who allegedly supplied three drums of spurious liquor that triggered the recent wave of hooch deaths in Punjab was arrested on Monday evening. As many as 111 people died in the hooch tragedy which claimed victims in Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur's Batala.

Chandigarh:The Punjab police on Tuesday claimed to have arrested a Ludhiana-based paint store owner who allegedly supplied three drums of spurious liquor that triggered the recent wave of hooch deaths in the state.

Rajeev Joshi, the owner of Ludhiana Paint Store, was nabbed late on Monday evening, said Director General of Police Dinkar Gupta.

The accused disclosed that he supplied the three drums of methanol (methyl alcohol), which were used to make the spurious methanol-based alcohol, to Prabhdeep Singh, nephew of Ravinder Anand of Moga who is further linked with Avtar Singh, he said.

The police are tracking the leads given by Joshi, who was reportedly procuring various types of alcohol and spirits from different places in Punjab and Delhi.

As many as 111 people died in the hooch tragedy which claimed victims in Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur's Batala.

With the arrest of Joshi and two other key players in the entire tragic saga, the number of arrests in the case has gone up to 40, Gupta said.

The arrests followed 563 raids conducted in the three districts --Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur (Batala) -- since July 31, under five FIRs registered in the case (one in Batala, 2 in Amritsar and 2 in Tarn Taran).

The DGP said one absconding accused, identified as Dharminder of Hathi Gate, Batala, was arrested on Tuesday in the case related to the 13 deaths in Batala. The DGP said 50 litres of alcohol were seized from him.

The arrest of Joshi and others has led the police to identify some more key people involved in the manufacture and distribution of spurious liquor, including the supply chain of methanol (methyl alcohol), which led to the deaths in Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Batala.

The three drums supplied by Joshi to Ravinder and Avtar were further sold to Satnam Singh of Pandori Gola village, Tarn Taran, the police said.

Satnam and his family members then supplied the methanol-based illicit liquor to around a dozen distributors in the three districts. Enquiries are also being made from Delhi and other places regarding the possible source of methanol supplied by Rajiv Joshi, they said.

With Satnam's arrest, the Tarn Taran module of the mafia involved in his case had been busted, said the DGP, adding that at least five more suspects in the district have been identified and raids were being conducted to nab them.

The Batala module had been smashed with the arrest of Darshana and Triveni, who were procuring liquor from Gobinder Singh alias Gobinda of Jandiala, who was further linked up with Satnam in the illicit liquor supply chain, he said.

The key accused in Amritsar, including Balwinder Kaur, was already under arrest. She had also procured the spurious alcohol from Gobinda.

A chemical examination of the drum residues and 70 litres of alcohol packed in pouches recovered from a ditch in Pandori Gola, at the instance of Satnam Singh, is being done through the excise department, the DGP said.

Methanol or methyl alcohol poisoning has been behind most of the hooch tragedies in India, including the recent one in Assam (168 deaths), UP (97 deaths) and Uttarakhand (30 deaths) in February 2020.

Similar unfortunate hooch tragedies had earlier caused 167 deaths in Mumbai in June 2015 and in Bihar in August 2016.

Currently, methanol is easily available in the market, and has many industrial applications including the manufacture of varnishes among other products.

In addition, the police have launched a major state-wide crackdown on spurious liquor in the past 24 hours, leading to the arrest of 184 persons in 238 cases.

A total of 5,943 litres of illicit liquor, 1,332 litres of licit liquor and 32,470 kgs of 'Lahan' (used in making liquor) has been recovered, along with eight working stills (bhattis), in these state-wide raids.

Liquor and lahan seizures were reported from in and around Sutlej river in Ludhiana Police Commissionerate, some areas of Amritsar (Rural), Tarn Taran District, as well as Anandpur Sahib and Nurpur Bedi areas, said the DGP.

(PTI)