- March 23, 2024
Sangrur fake liquor case: Accused used to sell deadly ‘methanol’ in liquor bottles labeled as ‘Shahi’ brand
Sangrur fake liquor case: Accused used to sell deadly ‘methanol’ in liquor bottles labeled as ‘Shahi’ brand.
Punjab Police arrested eight accused including two masterminds in this case
Masterminds used to take help of local residents to sell fake liquor at half price
Punjab Police enforces stringent Section 61-A of the Excise Act, which carries life imprisonment or death penalty: ADGP-cum-SIT chief Gurinder Dhillon, IPS.
Police teams recovered over 200 liters of the total 300 liters of methanol purchased from the Noida-based factory.
ADGP Gurinder Dhillon appealed to the residents of the affected villages to refrain from consuming liquor bought from unauthorized sources.
Chandigarh, March 23:
The fake liquor that killed 20 people in several villages in Sangrur district was actually methanol – a deadly chemical used in industrial products. The accused bought the chemical from a factory in Noida on the pretext of using it for industrial purposes. This information was given by Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) Law and Order Gurinder Singh Dhillon, who is leading the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to investigate the said case.
ADGP Dhillon, S.S.P. Sangrur – Comm – SIT Member Sartaj Singh Chahal was addressing a press conference at the Punjab Police Headquarters (PPHQ) here on Saturday.
According to the information received, the Sangrur police have registered three separate FIRs in this matter at three different police stations-Dirba, City Sunam and Cheema. Village Ubhawal, Sangrur and Harmanpreet Singh resident of village Taipur have been arrested. Both the masterminds have a criminal background and they came in contact with each other in Sangrur Jail.
The other six arrested accused have been identified as Manpreet Singh alias Mani and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi, both residents of village Gujran, Dirba; Soma Kaur, Rahul alias Sanju and Pardeep Singh alias Babbi are all three residents of Chuhwan, Cheema and Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh village Rogla. Police teams have also recovered 200 liters of methanol chemical, empty liquor bottles and lids and other equipment used for making and labeling fake liquor from their possession.
ADGP Gurinder Singh Dhillon said that the accused Harmanpreet along with his accomplice Gurlal used to order methanol chemical from a factory located in Noida and prepared fake liquor in his house and sold it in a bottle labeled ‘Shahi’. The accused was making labels using a printer at home, while he had ordered the bottle capping machine from Ludhiana.
He said that these masterminds used to take the help of local person Manpreet Mani (arrested) to sell fake liquor. He said that the accused used to target working class people for selling fake liquor at half price.
The ADGP said that the police have documents related to the purchase of this deadly chemical and to investigate the role of the factories, from where the accused bought the methanol, Section 120-B of the Indian IPC has been attached to all the FIRs. It may be mentioned that the accused had bought a total of 300 liters of methanol chemical.
The ADGP said that the police have also imposed the stringent Section 61-A of the Excise Act in all the three FIRs. He said that Section 61-A deals with life imprisonment or death sentence.
He assured that the SIT will conduct a thorough investigation from all aspects to take the investigation to a logical conclusion and the challan will be presented in the court in due course.
Meanwhile, the SIT chief appealed to the residents of the affected villages to refrain from consuming liquor purchased from unauthorized sources.
