ഇരു സംസ്ഥാനങ്ങളിലേയും ഹരിദ്വാര്‍, സഹരാന്‍പൂര്‍, ഖുഷിനഗര്‍ ജില്ലകളിലാണ് സംഭവമുണ്ടായത്. കഴിഞ്ഞ വ്യാഴാഴ്ച ഉത്തരാഖണ്ഡില്‍ നടന്ന മരണാനന്തര ചടങ്ങിലാണ് വ്യാജമദ്യം വിളമ്പിയത്. ഇവിടെ നിന്നാണ് യുപിയിലേക്കും മദ്യം എത്തിച്ചതെന്ന് പൊലീസ് നേരത്തെ പറഞ്ഞിരുന്നു.
സംഭവസ്ഥലങ്ങള്‍ വന്‍തോതില്‍ വ്യാജമദ്യം വിറ്റഴിക്കുന്ന മേഖലകളാണ്. ദുരന്തത്തില്‍ മരിച്ചവരുടെ ബന്ധുക്കള്‍ പ്രതിഷേധവുമായി രംഗത്തെത്തിയിരുന്നു. സംഭവത്തെ അപലപിച്ച് കോണ്‍ഗ്രസ് ജനറല്‍ സെക്രട്ടറി പ്രിയങ്ക ഗാന്ധിയും മുന്നോട്ടു വന്നിരുന്നു.
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The death toll in the moonshine tragedy in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand rose to 97 on Sunday even as 215 people were arrested in a sweeping police crackdown on illicit liquor in Uttar Pradesh, officials said.
Hooch tragedy
Simultaneously, as the Samajwadi Party (SP) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) blamed the ruling BJP in both states for the mass deaths, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said he smelt "a conspiracy" in which the SP may be involved.
He said that in Gorakhpur that a probe had been ordered. "Such incidents have happened in the past too where many times SP workers were involved. The guilty will not be spared." The death toll in Saharanpur district in Uttar Pradesh remained unchanged at 36, but 18 deaths were reported from the Meerut Medical College where many had been brought after consuming the illicit liquor on Thursday.
Meerut's Superintendent of Police Ranvijay Singh confirmed the hospital deaths and said 14 others were still undergoing treatment at the medical facility and were in critical condition. A hospital doctor told IANS that 17-18 of the 22-24 people brought after taking the moonshine had died.
Saharanpur District Magistrate Alok Kumar Pandey told IANS that post-mortem had confirmed 36 deaths due to consumption of spurious liquor. Eleven persons also died in Kushinagar district. A total of 32 people died in Roorkie and Haridwar in Uttarakhand.
All the deceased had crossed over to Balupur in Roorkie in the neighbouring hill state on Thursday for an after-death ritual where they were apparently served the spurious liquor. In the crackdown following the deaths, a total of 9,269 litres of moonshine was seized in Uttar Pradesh and 1,066 litres in Uttarakhand.
A total of 215 persons were arrested in Uttar Pradesh while cases against 297 others have been filed. In Uttarakhand, 49 cases have been registered. The Uttar Pradesh government has ordered a magisterial enquiry into the tragedy and many police and excise department officials have been suspended.
Police raided many places in Banda, Gorakhpur, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Basti, Deoband, Maharajganj, Mathura, Bulandshahr, Ghaziabad and Meerut. In a joint raid conducted by the police and excise department, in Nagla Madhya village of Etah district, 50 litres of spurious liquor was seized on Sunday and three persons arrested.
The deaths ignited a blame game. Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav blamed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in both the states ruled by it and said the BJP has to own up the responsibility for the tragedy.
"BJP is in power in both these states. If anyone is responsible, it is the BJP," he said, and asked the state governments to hike the compensation announced to the bereaved families from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. He charged that so much trade in illicit liquor could not have been "done without government protection and patronage".
BSP supremo Mayawati also come down heavily on the government over the deaths. "The tragedy is not only unfortunate but heart rending and shameful. These incidents are the result of a callous and unconcerned BJP governments," she tweeted.
The four-time Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh demanded that Excise Ministers of both the states should be immediately relieved of their duties and a CBI probe ordered to ensure a fair investigation. Meanwhile, a press conference called by Uttar Pradesh Excise Minister Jai Pratap Singh on Sunday noon was called off at the last minute without any explanation.
The Uttar Pradesh government late on Sunday set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the hooch tragedy which has left at least 97 dead in the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand, an official spokesman said. </p>
Additional Director General of Police (Railways) Sanjay Singhal will head the SIT, which has been mandated by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to submit a report within 10 working days, officials told IANS.</p>
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 and also submit recommendations to ensure that there is no repetition of such incidents in future.</p>
The Uttar Pradesh government late on Sunday set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the hooch tragedy which has left at least 97 dead in the state and neighbouring Uttarakhand, an official spokesman said. </summary>
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh) [India], Feb 11 (ANI): The Uttar Pradesh government on Sunday constituted a five-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe recent deaths due to consumption of illicit liquor in the state.
Meanwhile, two persons have been arrested in connection with Kushinagar hooch tragedy, which claimed eight lives, said Superintendent of Police Rajeev Narayan Mishra on Sunday.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has already announced a compensation of Rs 2 lakh each to the kin of those who died after consuming spurious liquor and Rs 50,000 each to those who are undergoing treatment.
Eastern Uttar Pradesh General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra too expressed grief over the death of more than 100 people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh due to illicit liquor consumption and demanded an appropriate compensation and provision of government jobs for kin of the deceased.
Consumption of spurious illegal liquor has claimed the lives of 70 people in Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, forcing government officials to launch a major crackdown to nab those responsible for distribution of illicit liquor in the states and its neighbouring regions.
Complacent officers have been suspended: UP excise minister on hooch tragedy
Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 11 (ANI): As the death toll due to the consumption of illicit liquor in Uttar Pradesh kept rising even on Sunday, state’s Excise Minister Jai Pratap Singh said the main accused in the incident, Rajinder Jaiswal, has been arrested and officials who were found to be negligent towards their duty, too, have been suspended. “In Kushinagar, villagers have identified a person named Rajinder Jaiswal who was involved in illicit liquor business & he has been arrested. Officers of Kushinagar who were negligent towards their duty were suspended. Both the incidents are unfortunate and painful,” Singh told ANI.
Keywords: UP excise minister, hooch tragedy, Lucknow, illicit liquor tragedy
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