2 brothers ‘running’ illegal liquor factory get bail in 3 weeks
TARN TARAN One of the accused was held from a factory on August 1
TARNTARAN: Two brothers accused of running an illegal liquor factory in Congress’ Khemkaran MLA Sukhpal Singh Bhullar’s native village, Mehmoodpura, managed to get bail from a local court within three weeks after the police busted the racket.
On the heels of state’s worstever hooch tragedy in which more than 100 lives were lost, police raided the factory on August 1 and recovered more than 2.3 lakh litres of illicit liquor. More than 3,050 litres of Lahan (raw material used for making liquor) was also recovered, along with a vehicle loaded with eight drums of 200 litres each.
One of the brothers who allegedly ran the factory, Major Singh, was arrested on the spot while the other, Sukhwant Singh, was absconding. Investigation officer (IO), SI Balwinder Singh, said, “Major was arrested on the spot and sent to the jail. He got bail three-four days ago.”
Additional district and sessions judge Paramjit Kaur granted bail to Sukhwant on Monday. The judge in her order said, “The accused/applicant has complied with the order dated August 15, 2020 passed by this hon’ble court. As such, interim anticipatory bail granted to the applicant is made as absolute.”
In its August 15 order, the court had granted Sukhwant an interim bail till August 24 while directing him to appear before the SHO or the investigation officer.
The IO said, “The accused reached us on August 20. We released him after questioning. On August 24, we told the court that he has joined the probe.”
Harikrishan Arora, a social activist, said, “Both the accused got bail easily as the police didn’t present the case strongly in the court. The police should have given reference to the hooch tragedy in the court.”
District president of Shiromani Akali Dal Virsa Singh Valtoha said, “The factory was being run by the brothers but the real owners of the factory were never arrested by the police under political patronage. Thorough investigation into the case is needed. The mini distillery was already in the police’s notice, but they acted only after the reportage of deaths of hundreds of people.”