Deaths climb to 14 in Ujjain hooch tragedy; Shivraj Chouhan orders SIT probe

Death toll in the illicit hooch tragedy that took place in Ujjain district, 190 Kms west of Bhopal, went up to 14 on Thursday with seven more bodies recovered from certain localities in the town, prompting chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to order a probe by a special investigation team (SIT) and superintendent of police of the district to suspend four police personnel, said police and state government communique.

The deceased, most of whom were labourers and some beggars, were found in different localities of the city in the past 36 hours since Wednesday morning. Police found a common link in most of the deaths - consumption of ‘potali’ or ‘ginger liquor’ as called in the local market. Two of the victims who died during treatment on Wednesday evening told the police that they had purchased it from Kaharwadi area in Ujjain, according to police.

Eight of the deceased who were identified are: Shankarlal, 40, a resident of Piploda Bagla village; Vijay alias Krishna, 45, from Nagda town; Babloo Yadav, 40, from Dani gate locality; Badrilal, 65, from Chhatri Chowk Sarai; Dinesh Joshi, 45, from Ankpat area; Peer Shah, 45, from Begum Bagh locality; and Ratan Malviya from Jharda village, all in Ujjain district, and Rakesh, a resident of Harda district.

The police personnel suspended include Kharakuan police station in charge ML Meena, sub-inspector Niranjan Sharma and constables Sheikh Anwar and Nawaz Sharif for not taking action against sale of illicit hooch in their area, said a press release from superintendent of police, Ujjain Manoj Singh.

Police booked three persons in connection with the crime under sections 328 (Causing hurt by means of poison, etc, with intent to commit an offence), 304 (Culpable homicide not amounting to murder), 34 (Act done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 49-A (Penalty for import etc. of liquor unfit for human consumption or for altering or attempting to alter denatured spirituous preparation) of Madhya Pradesh Excise Act, according to police.

Confirming recovery of 14 dead bodies in the past two days Ujjain’s inspector general (IG) of police Rakesh Gupta said, “Ten of the deaths are linked with illicit hooch. We will be able to comment on the remaining deaths only after receiving the post-mortem reports.”

He said, “During the investigation, police found that the accused had been making intoxicant named ‘potali’ by using methanol (methyl alcohol) in a multilevel parking of Ujjain Municipal Corporation (UMC) in the Chhatri Chowk area for the past one month. They are the prime accused in the case as all the deceased were reportedly consumed the Potali made by them. Police are trying to nab them.”

City superintendent of police (CSP) Rajnish Kashyap said, “Of the three accused booked - Yunus, Sikandar and Gabbar - all residents of Ujjain, Yunus was arrested from Indore while a manhunt has been launched to arrest the two others. Also, in a joint drive with administration more than 550 litres of illicit liquor was seized and FIRs were lodged against 71 persons in the district.”

He said, “The post-mortem reports concerning many of the deceased received so far stated ‘suspected toxic poisoning’. Those unidentified so far are elderly people and said to be beggars. ”

“In a joint operation with police, district administration sealed a shop where a spirit- methanol- was found in a large quantity in Chhatri Bazar area. The joint team of police and administration conducted raids at more than six other places, where Potali was being made illegally by people,” said Asheesh Kumar, collector Ujjain.

(With input from Anand Nigam in Ujjain)