Main accused surrenders, one more arrested

PATIALA : Two days after the enforcement directorate (ED) initiated a probe into probe into the illegal distillery case in Ghanaur, the main accused, Amrik Singh, sarpanch of Khanpur Khurd village, surrendered at the Shambu police station on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Patiala police have arrested another accused, Hardeep Singh, alias Bacchi, from the Banur-Shambu road near Tepla village.

Senior superintendent of police Mandeep Singh Sidhu said the accused will be presented in the court for their police custody.

“We are minutely investigating the case. Both the accused were at large since May 14 when the district police and excise department busted Illegal distillery-cum-liquor-bottling plant at Ghanaur in Patiala district,” SSP Sidhu said.

Khanpur Khurd sarpanch Amrik Singh is an aide of a ruling party MLA, while his wife is a zila parishad member, affiliated with the Congress.

A case under Sections 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using as genuine a forged), 188 (disobeying public official’s order) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), sections of the Excise Act, and section 5 of the Disaster Management Act was registered against accused.

The distillery was using ethyl alcohol (ENA), which is used to manufacture sanitisers. The accused were diluting the chemical to make liquor and were selling around 1,000 cases of liquor a day.

ENA has around 70% liquor content, and becomes fit for consumption if it is diluted to 43%.