2015 Malwani hooch tragedy: Convicts urge court to let them off as they already served nearly nine years in jail

Public prosecutor Pradip D Gharat vehemently opposed this argument, and sought life imprisonment for all the convicts. The offence as such is punishable with maximum punishment of life imprisonment and there is no minimum sentence provided for the act

MUMBAI: The four convicts held guilty in the 2015 Malwani hooch tragedy case, in which 106 people were killed and 75 injured, urged a sessions court on Monday to let them off as they have already spent over eight years in jail.

On June 18, 2015, residents of Laxmi Nagar slums in Malvani began falling ill after consuming diluted methanol sold to them as liquor for ₹10 to ₹20. Within a week, 106 people died and around 40 survived with after effects like permanent loss of vision. (Hindustan Times)

Nine years after the tragedy, the court on April 29, 2024 found four accused — Raju Tapkar, Donald Patel, Francis D’mello and Mansoor Khan — guilty of criminal conspiracy, culpable homicide not amounting to murder and other charges under the Indian Penal Code and Bombay Prohibition Act and also acquitted 10 others in the case.

On June 18, 2015, residents of Laxmi Nagar slums in Malvani began falling ill after consuming diluted methanol sold to them as liquor for ₹10 to ₹20. By the next day, as many as 150 were rushed to hospitals after they complained of dizziness, loss of vision, respiratory problems, nausea and diarrhoea. Within a week, 106 people died and around 40 survived with after effects like permanent loss of vision.

“They used to bring some chemicals from Gujarat and sell them here to vendors. The accused are proven to have been involved in criminal conspiracy,” said additional sessions judge Swapnil Tawshikar, holding the four accountable for the tragedy.

Advocate Wahab Khan, representing Donald Patel, 49, submitted that he had been in custody for over 8 years and that the mental stigma of his wife and daughter of him being a murder accused was like a mental incarceration.

“We follow the reformative theory of punishment and not retributive. As a first offender, he may get a chance to reform. Principle of contributory negligence may also be considered as no one was forced or compelled to consume the hooch,” Khan said, adding that the undergone period would meet the end of justice as well as serve as a lesson for accused and other like-minded persons.

While advocate Nitin Sejpal, representing Francis D’mello, 54, and advocate Diwakar Rai, representing Mansoor Khan, 35, seeking leniency, pleaded a chance for the accused to reform in future, advocate Kainath Sayyed, representing Langda, 59, submitted that maximum sentence will serve no purpose but minimum sentence will allow him to spend the rest of his life with his family as he is handicapped.

Public prosecutor Pradip D Gharat vehemently opposed this argument, and sought life imprisonment for all the convicts. “The offence as such is punishable with maximum punishment of life imprisonment and there is no minimum sentence provided for the act. But the case is not only extreme but also the rarest of rare and equally heinous,” said Gharat who added that the objective of such punishment is to deter like-minded individuals but also to send a message that justice will not tolerate such actions.

The acquitted accused in the case included, Gautam Arade, Salimuddin Shaikh aka Gentle, Mamata Rathod, Agnes Grasis Gracy aka Gracy Aunty, Kishor Patel, Leeladhar Patel, Prakash Bhai aka Lala alias Gurubhai Patel, Geeta Simran, Subhash Giri and Bharatbhai Patel.