Methanol found in spurious liquor, says SIT probing Sangrur hooch tragedy

Methanol, a fatal chemical used in industrial products, was found in the spurious liquor that claimed 20 lives in Sangrur, the head of the special investigation team (SIT) probing the hooch tragedy said on Saturday.

Addressing a press conference at the Punjab Police headquarters here, SIT chief ADGP Gurinder Dhillon said that the accused had got the chemical from a Noida-based factory.

The ADGP, who was accompanied by Sangrur senior superintendent of police and SIT member Sartaj Singh Chahal, said that so far, eight out of the 10 accused, including the two masterminds -- Gurlal Singh of Ubhawal village in Sangrur and Harmanpreet Singh of Taipur village in Patiala, have been arrested.

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Three FIRs have been registered – at Dirba, Sunam and Cheema, for the deaths. Both masterminds are history-sheeters and came in contact with each other while lodged at Sangrur jail, the SIT chief said.

The other arrested persons are Manpreet Singh alias Mani and Sukhwinder Singh alias Sukhi, both residents of Gujjran village in Dirba; Soma Kaur, Rahul alias Sanju and Pardeep Singh alias Babi, all residents of Chauwas in Cheema; Arshdeep Singh alias Arsh of Rogla village. Police have also recovered 200 litres of methanol, empty liquor bottles, bottle caps and other equipment, used for manufacturing and labelling spurious liquor.

Dhillon said that the accused Harmanpreet used to prepare spurious liquor at his house and sell it in liquor bottles, bearing the brand name “Shahi”, written in Hindi.

The accused prepared brand labels using a printer at home and had purchased a bottle cap installation machine from Ludhiana.

The ADGP said the masterminds were using a local contact Manpreet Singh alias Mani (arrested) to sell the spurious liquor. “The accused was targeting labourers to sell the spurious liquor at half price,” he added.

The ADGP said that the police have papers regarding the procurement of this fatal chemical and police have added Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) to investigate the role of factories from where the methanol was procured. The accused persons had procured a total of 300 litres of methanol.

The ADGP said police have also invoked the stringent section, 61-A of the Excise Act in all three FIRs. Section 61-A is punishable with imprisonment for life/ the death penalty, he added.