Hooch link traced to Rajpura, Noida
Police identify racket kingpin from a Tarn Taran village who is already lodged in Kapurthala jail; say a single lot of spurious alcohol might be the reason behind mass deaths
AMRITSAR:THE link of smuggling of extra neutral alcohol (ENA), which is used for manufacturing illicit liquor, has been traced to Patiala’s Rajpura town and Noida in Uttar Pradesh with the interrogation of those arrested in connection with the 86 hooch-related deaths in Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur districts.
The police claimed to have identified the alleged racket kingpin as Gurpal Singh, a resident of Tarn Taran’s Dhotian village, who supplied illicit liquor in the area. He is already lodged in the Kapurthala jail.
Officials investigating the matter suspect that a single lot of spurious alcohol smuggled in the area might be the reason behind the mass deaths.
Till Friday, 41 people had lost their lives. The death toll mounted to 86 after Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts reported 44 and one more fatalities between Friday night and Saturday morning.
On Friday, the Tarn Taran police arrested four persons —Kashmir Singh, Angrej Singh, Amarjit Singh and Baljit Singh— from Pandoori Gola village for selling illicit liquor in the area on the basis of the complaints lodged by the some of the victims’ family members.
Also, the Batala police arrested Darshan Rani and Rajan of Batala, Balwinder Kaur of Muchhal village and Mithu of Khalchian. Balwinder Kaur’s husband died after allegedly consuming the illicit liquor on Friday.
Goindwal Sahib deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Kawalpreet Singh said, “With the arrest of Kashmir and Angrej, we recovered 40 litre lahan (raw material used for making illicit liquor). Kashmir’s Toyota Innova car and a motorcycle were also confiscated.”
A senior official involved in the investigation said, “Kashmir and Angrej told us they purchased ENA from the accomplices of Gurpal . He along with his brother Rashpal Singh was involved in supply of alcohol to various villages of Tarn Taran and Amritsar districts.”
‘WILL BRING GURPAL ON PRODUCTION WARRANT’
DSP Kawalpreet said, “We will bring Gurpal on production warrant. Our preliminary probe has revealed that Gurpal smuggled ENA from Noida in UP. We have also identified four more suspects who are also lodged in jail. The hunt is on to arrest Gurpal’s brother.”
Gurpal along with Nirmal Singh and Attar Singh of Sarhali village was arrested on July 9 this year in Phillaur of Jalandhar district with 4,000 litre alcohol being smuggled from Rajpura, as per the FIR registered at the Phillaur police station.
An official said, “Balwinder Kaur purchased illicit liquor from Mithu and Gobind Singh of Kathunangal village. We have arrested Gobind Singh also. Mithu was producing illicit liquor at his home
while Gobind purchased it from someone else. We are tracing the links of those who had been supplying alcohol to the village-level liquor suppliers.”
Tarn Taran senior superintendent of police (SSP) Druman H Nimbale said they were considering Gurpal, his brother, and Kashmir Singh and Angrej Singh as the masterminds of the illicit liquor smuggling racket.
ACCUSED FACING MULTIPLE CASES
Kashmir, Angrej, Amarjit and Baljit were already booked under the Excise Act at various police stations, officials said. Sub-inspector (SI) Manjit Singh of Tarsikka police station in Amritsar said, “Balwinder Kaur’s husband had a case
registered under the Excise Act. Mithu was booked in four cases, including one under Excise Act and three of theft.”
Similarly, Darshan Rani and Rajan of Batala were already booked under Excise Act, the police said.
HUGE SEIZURES IN TARN TARAN, AMRITSAR RAIDS
The police in Tarn Taran on Saturday conducted 82 raids and registered 14 cases under the Excise Act. SSP Nimbale said with the raids they recovered 4,410kg lahan, 16.7 litre ENA and 3,75 litre hooch. Similarly, the police in Amritsar registered 26 cases with the arrest of 6 persons. They also recovered 348 litre illicit liquor, 3,270kg lahan and 131 litre ENA.