E-Paper
Six die after consuming spurious liquor in Sangrur, probe ordered
Punjab Police officials said all six had consumed the liquor on Tuesday night and four of them were found dead on village roads the next morning
Six people died while 10 others are undergoing treatment after consuming spurious liquor at Gujran village in Dirba block of Sangrur district in
Punjab.
Police officials said all six had consumed the liquor on Tuesday night and four of them were found dead on village roads the next morning.
Five of the deceased have been identified as Bhola Singh, 50; Nirmal Singh, 42; Pargat Singh, 42; Jagjeet Singh, 30, and Laddi Singh, 30, all residents of Gujran village in Dirba block. Laddi Singh fell sick and was admitted to the Sangrur Civil Hospital, from where he was referred to the Government Rajindra Hospital in Patiala where he succumbed.
“The patient died within a few hours of being admitted to the hospital. The body has already been shifted to the mortuary for postmortem,” a senior official at the Government Rajindra Hospital said.
The identity of the sixth deceased could not be immediately ascertained.
Police have arrested three people including a liquor smuggler and registered a case murder case. The accused have been identified as Manpreet Singh and his accomplices Sukhwinder Singh; and Gurlal. According to police sources, Manpreet and Sukhwinder Singh had brought liquor from the third accused Gurlal Singh.
Manpreet Singh is already facing liquor smuggling charges in a case dating back to January this year. He was out on bail. Residents said the accused were supplying country-made liquor through home delivery.
The DC said a five-member committee had already been constituted to probe the matter, while the bodies had been sent to the hospital for the post-mortem.
The committee, comprising the Dirba sub-divisional magistrate (SDM), deputy superintendent of police (DSP), station house officer (SHO), senior medical officer and an excise and taxation officer, will submit its report as early as by Friday.
Door-to-door survey on to gauge situation
Swinging into action, the state government has begun conducting a door-to-door survey in Gujran village to identify any other people who may have bought or consumed the liquor in the last 24 hours and a few others have been admitted to health facilities.
Sangrur deputy commissioner Jitendra Jorwal, while speaking to HT, said, “Health officials, along with the officials of civil and police administration, are conducting door-to-door surveys. A few people were identified by the health teams during the survey and shifted to the government hospital. The exercise is to avoid more casualties.”
When asked about the illegal sale of liquor in Gujran village, Sangrur senior superintendent of police (SSP) Sartaj Singh said villagers in the past had filed a complaint against accused Manpreet Singh for allegedly supplying liquor in the village, adding, “Acting on the complaint, a case under the Excise Act was registered against Manpreet in January this year. It was last week that the Police had produced challan in the court.”
Gujran residents also started a protest sit-in on Delhi-Ludhiana National Highway near Sularkharat village in Sangrur district to mark their protest..
