19 jailed for 2004 Vikhroli hooch tragedy

More than seven years after the Vikhroli hooch tragedy that claimed 87 lives, a Sewri sessions court on Thursday convicted 19 accused in the case.

More than seven years after the Vikhroli hooch tragedy that claimed 87 lives, a Sewri sessions court on Thursday convicted 19 accused in the case.

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The four main accused — the men who arranged for metha-nol, a toxic chemical, and mixed it with country liquor — were sentenced to life, while 15 others involved in its distribution and supply were sentenced to two years’ rigorous imprisonment.

Another 327 people were hospitalised after consuming the spurious liquor on December 25, 2004. The court came down on the state for not making the 57 police officials and state excise officers, suspended for their alleged inaction and negligence, co-accused in the case.

Ravi Zende, 40, a Vikhroli resident who survived but lost his friends, said: “Two years’ imprisonment is too light a sentence.”