Till now 105 people have died by drinking hooch. This happened in different parts of Punjab such as Tarn Taran, Batala and Amritsar districts and people started dying from 29th July 2020. According to officials 10 people who had consumed spurious liquor are undergoing treatment at different hospitals in Tarn Taran. More than 100 raids were conducted. A total of 25 arrests have been made in the case and seven excise officials and six policemen have been suspended. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh also announced Rs 2 lakh compensation to each of the families of the deceased. The DGP said that the trucks carrying alcohol would stop at 6 to 7 identified Dhabas. The Dhaba owners collected the hooch from truck drivers and sold it to nearby villages. The alcohol was also supplied to Amritsar and surrounding areas by these people. 

Several Dhaba owners have been arrested and hundreds of litres of illegal liquor has been seized from each of them. Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had already ordered a magisterial probe into the tragedy. A senior police official said that many families were not coming forward and did not want any action. Some of them are not even getting the post-mortem done. Gurdaspur Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Ishfaq said some families have refused to accept that their family member has died after consuming spurious liquor. They are saying their family member died of a heart attack. The excise commissioner said that the reports of the chemical analysis of the liquor seized has not come as yet but a superficial check showed that the material is the one used in the paint and hardware industry

Tags

• Punjab
• Hooch
• Alcohol
• Dead

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