E-Paper
Death toll rises to 11 in Gujarat spurious liquor case: Police
Two police inspectors and five other police personnel were suspended after a preliminary investigation found negligence
The death toll in the Bhavnagar spurious liquor case rose to 11 on Saturday after three more people died, including one who died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Surat, Bhavnagar district SP Nitesh Pandey said.
A total of 61 people have been affected in the incident, officers said.
The deceased include Upendrasinh Chandrasinh Gohil of Kharakdi village in Ghogha taluka, Kartik Ashwinbhai Makwana (40) of Bhavnagar city, and Narendra Singh Yadav (47) of Morena, Madhya Pradesh, who died on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, four more people died: Kanaksinh Hanubha Gohil (39) from Palitana, and Ghanshyamsinh Jaypalsinh Jadeja (48), Hiteshbhai Dilipbhai Parmar (42) and Jayesh Jitubhai Bhatti (34), all from Bhavnagar city. On Thursday, Sudhirbhai Kanubhai Raval (40) of Hathab village died.
Three more people died on Saturday: Avinashbhai Kantibhai Parmar (45) of Dabgar village, Hardik Hareshbhai Kilji (35) of Bhavnagar city, and Sanjaybhai Laxmanbhai Dodia of Pingli village in Talaja taluka. Dodia died while undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Surat.
Key accused Raees was arrested on Friday and remanded in police custody for nine days, taking the total number of arrests to 14, officers said. Police have registered cases against 21 accused.
The FIR alleges that Raees, Gautam Virambhai Solanki (24) of Vartej, and Zuber of Ujjain travelled to Ahmedabad to procure methanol, bottles, caps and liquor stickers. They allegedly prepared spurious liquor at Solanki’s house.
According to the FIR, the accused first prepared around 51 cases of spurious liquor and sold them. They destroyed a second batch, after which Raees allegedly brought Narendra Singh Yadav from Madhya Pradesh because of his expertise in preparing liquor. The group then allegedly prepared around 25 more cases and supplied them to bootleggers and consumers in Bhavnagar.
The FIR alleges that methanol was used to prepare the spurious liquor. A seized bottle contained 38.59% methanol and 0.94% ethanol, while methanol was detected in blood samples collected from victims.
Yadav was also admitted to a Bhavnagar hospital on Monday after consuming the liquor and died during treatment on Tuesday.
State government spokesperson and agriculture minister Jitu Vaghani said on Friday that the government had handed over the investigation to the State Monitoring Cell (SMC).
Vaghani said police had traced around 29 people who may have consumed the suspected substance and arranged medical examinations and treatment for them. Some of the accused also face other criminal cases, he said.
Bhavnagar SP Pandey said 16 teams were working on the investigation. Police have also removed suspected substances found at some locations.
Two police inspectors and five other police personnel were suspended after a preliminary investigation found negligence, Vaghani said.
