The death toll in hooch tragedy has risen to 29, of these, 23 deaths were in Aliganj area of Etah district while six died in adjoining border area of Merapura and Kaimganj in Farrukhabad district.

Identified as Vishal, Zamadar, Rasid, Raja and Gillu the victims hailed from Aliganj, while Shyam Singh, Suresh, Nanhe Lal, Shobran, Ramavtar and Lalmiya of Farrukhabad districts were reported dead on July 17 during medical treatment.

At present over 20 people are admitted in the government hospitals of Etah, Farrukhabad, Safai. Officials claimed that more than 10 men have been admitted in Etah district hospital, while five have been moved to Saifai while about six were admitted in Farrukhabad.

Speaking to TOI, Ajeet Singh, SDM Kaimganj, said, “All the victims had consumed the spurious country-made liquor in Aliganj on Friday night. Since Aliganj area border is adjoining with Farrukhabad’s Merapura and Kaimganj, the men had easy access to cheap hooch.”

On July 16, a total of 17 men died in the incident. The administration announced to compensate the families of deceased ones with Rs 2 lakh each, while for those who fell ill were to be given Rs 50,000 each.

After the incident, Uttar Pradesh administration suspended 12 officials including sub-divisional magistrate Sanjeev Kumar, district excise officer B K Sharma, excise inspector Vijay Bahadur Singh, circle officer & deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Asha Ram Ahirwar, station officer of Aliganj Mukesh Sharma, police outpost in-charge of Kasba Yogendar Kumar and five other cops (Head constable Bhagat Singh, Omprakash, Tukiram and constable Bhagwan Singh and Mahesh Chandra.

Meanwhile, the accused Sri Pal, owner of the illegal country-made liquor store, has been arrested.

As per sources, during interrogation, Pal revealed the selling 180 pouch of hooch on Friday night, which means the death toll might rise further as the time passes. The alcohol content in the hooch was very high.

 Source claimed, the police is trying to extract information from Pal about the source of raw material and people who help him to set up the plant to manufacture hooch.
 It is important to note, that Sri Pal had been sent in jail before 2015 as he was booked in four different cases of running illegal liquor shop between 2010 to 2015.

In the recent tragic incident, Etah police has registered a case under Section 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 328 (administering dangerous substance) and 34 of the IPC.

The names of 17 men who lost their lives on Saturday are: Ramavtar, Atik, Rajesh, Netrapal, Sarvesh, Uma Shankar Awasthi, Charn Singh, Chini, Shobran Singh, Vipin, Rajesh Singh, Guddu, Pramod, Mahipal, Dharmpal, Ram Singh and Arvind.

 

source:timesofindia