Toll due to spurious liquor in Punjab rises to 21, two police officers suspended
The toll from the consumption of allegedly spurious liquor in Punjab's Amritsar has risen to 21, up from 14, with most of the dead said to be daily wage earners, The Indian Express reported on Wednesday quoting police officials. Ten others were also taken to the hospital.
Majitha Deputy Superintendent of Police Amolak Singh and Station House Officer Avtar Singh have been suspended for 'negligence [that] resulted in the fatal incident'. Departmental inquiries have also been launched against them, Punjab police chief Gaurav Yadav said.
The incident took place on Monday night. The deaths were confirmed by Amritsar Rural Senior Superintendent of Police Maninder Singh.
The deaths took place in seven villages in Majitha: Bhangali, Patalpuri, Marari Kalan, Therewal, Karnala, Bhangwan and Talwandi Ghuman.
The total number of arrests in the case has also increased to 10, including the main suspect Sahib Singh and distributor Prabhjeet Singh, Maninder Singh said.
The others who were arrested included another distributor, Kulbir Singh, and local sellers Ninder Kaur, Sahib Singh, Gurjant Singh, Arun aka Kala and Sikander Singh aka Pappu.
The senior superintendent of police added Prabhjeet Singh received 50 litres of methanol from Sahib Singh, who sourced it online from a Ludhiana-based company. He then diluted it and sold it to locals in two-litre packets.
Sahib Singh had purchased the methanol from Pankaj Kumar alias Sahil and Arvind Kumar, owners of Ludhiana-based Sahil Chemicals.
The police official added that a methanol shipment ordered by Sahib Singh was on its way from Delhi, and teams were prepared to seize it. Meanwhile, 600 litres of methanol were also seized in a joint operation by Patiala Police and the Excise Department.
Methanol is a poisonous chemical compound that is sometimes illicitly mixed with alcoholic drinks as a cost-effective replacement for ethanol, the standard consumable alcohol.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh for each deceased's family and assured that the state government would cover the full education expenses of their children.
'These are not deaths, these are murders,' Mann was quoted as saying. 'Such a tragedy could not have occurred without political, bureaucratic, or police support.'
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