Witnesses turn hostile; bail for ‘mastermind’
TARN TARAN : The alleged mastermind of the state’s worst ever hooch tragedy, that claimed the lives of around 130 people in the Majha region in 2020, has been bailed out within six weeks of his surrender in a local court after all the witnesses against him turned hostile.
Rashpal Singh alias Shalu of Dhotian village, who had surrendered before a local court in Tarn Taran on May 8, after remaining at large for nearly two years, got bail in all the five cases, including murder.
Confirming the development, Rashpal’s advocate Jaideep Singh Ratti said there was no reason for keeping his client in custody as all witnesses of the cases registered against him had turned hostile.
“Rashpal was bailed out in all the cases related to the hooch tragedy between June 1 to 15. Police have no direct or indirect evidence, which can establish him guilty. Even 35 witnesses in all the cases have turned hostile. All the witnesses have told the court that they don’t know him. Even Tarn Taran police had declared Rashpal proclaimed offender (PO), but didn’t file a challan against him,” he said.
Rashpal Singh was named in five FIRS after around 130 people had died and around a dozen had lost their vision by allegedly consuming spurious liquor in three districts of the Majha —Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur and Amritsar—in July and August 2020. The police of the three districts had arrested nearly 150 people after the tragedy had unfolded.
Deputy superintendent of police (DSP-CITY), Barjinder Singh, said, “it seems the witnesses who have turned hostile were bribed. In most of the cases, challans were filed against all the accused. I will check if the challan was not filled against Rashpal.”
When asked if the police have any concrete evidence against Rashpal, he said, “I have been posted here a few months back. As per our files, Rashpal was running the racket of smuggling of liquor from Patiala side to Tarn Taran.” HT has a copy of a court order dated June 20, pertaining to an FIR registered at Tarn Taran city police station against Rashpal, which mentions that the challan against the accused was awaited.
Meanwhile, Ratti alleged that his client was made a ‘scapegoat’. “Some police officials had been at loggerheads with my client. Earlier, Rashpal was booked in around 8 to 10 cases and he has been acquitted in most of them. The original accused of the hooch tragedy case were never arrested.”
Earlier, Tarn Taran police had frozen the assets of Rashpal and his brother Gurpal Singh worth ₹ 4 crore under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act registered in 2014. “The seized property gets restored automatically once the accused surrenders,” Ratti said.
During the investigation of the Tarn Taran police into the hooch tragedy, it came to the fore that Rashpal along with Gurpal had been running the business of liquor smuggling on a large scale.