Court rejects bail pleas of two prime accused in hooch tragedy

One of them was also named in a case involving death of three people due to hooch a fortnight before the bigger tragedy unfolded

A local court has rejected the bail applications of two of the prime accused in the state’s worst-ever hooch tragedy that had claimed 140 lives in Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts in July and August last year.

As many as 140 lives were lost in state’s worst-ever hooch tragedy in Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts in July and August 2020. (ht file)

The accused are Parkash Singh alias Pasi and Avinash Singh alias Kalsi.

Pasi was also named in a case in which three residents of Rataul village in Tarn Taran had died allegedly by consuming spurious liquor fortnight before the bigger tragedy unfolded.

After the death of three men, a farmer, Ravinder Singh, who survived but lost his vision, lodged a police complaint and a case was registered against Pasi on July 27. Timely police action against Pasi could have averted the hooch tragedy that unfolded between July 29 and August 3.

Additional sessions judge (ASJ), Tarn Taran, Kanwaljit Singh, on Tuesday turned down the bail applications of the two. “Keeping in view the antecedents of the applicant, gravity and seriousness of the allegations, no ground is made out to grant the concession of regular bail to the applicant,” noted the judge in its order in Pasi’s case.

Earlier, a local court had granted bail to three of the accused involved in the tragedy.