Bulandshahr/Lucknow:
Five people have died and 16 others hospitalised after allegedly consuming spurious liquor in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district, police said on Friday.
The authorities have suspended four policemen and removed three senior Meerut zone excise officials from their post for laxity. An excise inspector and three other members of the department have also be suspended.
Police have also arrested the main accused, identified as Kuldeep.
According to a government spokesperson in Lucknow, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has directed officials to initiate stern action under the National Security Act and the Gangsters Act in the case.
Bulandshahr Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Santosh Kumar Singh said some people had fallen sick at Jeet Garhi village of the district on Wednesday night after consuming liquor purchased from Kuldeep.
They were admitted to a hospital, where five of them, aged 45 to 60, died till Friday morning, he said, adding that 16 people are currently undergoing treatment. The SSP said it has surfaced that the liquor was being sold in the area for some time. Therefore, the Sikandrabad police station in-charge, the Anokhepuri chowki in-charge and two constables have been suspended, he added.
Meanwhile, Additional Chief Secretary (Excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy removed Meerut zone Joint Excise Commissioner Rajeshmani Tripathi, Deputy Excise Commissioner Suresh Chanda Patel and Bulandshahr District Excise Officer Sanjay Kumar Tripathi for laxity in supervision. They have been attached to the Excise Commissionerate.
Sikandarabad Excise Inspector Prabhat Vardhan, Chief Constable Ram Babu and two other constables Srikant Som and Salim Ahmed have also been suspended, Bhoosreddy said, adding that they have prima facie been found lacking in discharge of their duties and departmental action has also been ordered against them.
Four of the deceased were identified as Satish, Kalua, Ranjit and Sukhpal, police said.
Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav attacked the state BJP government for ”frequent” Hooch tragedies.
”Similar cases have been reported from Lucknow and Barabanki in the past,” he told reporters in Banda. UP Congress chief Ajay Kumar Lallu too cited recent hooch tragedies and demanded strict measures to ban the sale of spurious liquor.
”After all, who is responsible for these deaths? The chief minister should answer,” he added.
