Khoda liquor deaths: Three prime accused arrested in Ghaziabad

The police on Friday arrested four of the five accused who were named in three FIRs lodged in connection with four deaths due to alleged consumption of spurious liquor in Khoda of Ghaziabad.

According to the police, the case may turn out to be one of adulteration of smuggled liquor.

The police on Friday arrested Sunil and his mother Neelam, who operated a grocery shop from their house on Gali number 9 in Shankar Vihar locality of Khoda and allegedly supplied liquor to people in the locality. The police also recovered one kilogram of urea, 22 bottles (180ml each) of mixed liquor, plastic buckets, tumblers and measuring instruments on their instance.

“Apart from the smuggled liquor, they also sold liquor prepared at home. The articles recovered on their instance reveal that they had also been manufacturing liquor besides adulterating liquor in bottles,” Dharmendra Chauhan, circle officer (Indirapuram), said.

Twelve cartons of smuggled liquor, 39 empty bottles and 39 caps of liquor bottles were also recovered.

Phulwa, one more accused named in the FIRs, was also arrested on Friday. Hindustan Times on Wednesday had reported about the grocery shop on Gali number 9 and operations undertaken by Sunil and his mother.

The accused told the police that they were supplied smuggled liquor by Dilip Rana, Mintu Masala, Ranjit Mandal and Kaliya Bunty, who offered them ₹300 per day for selling the smuggled liquor. The four suspects also provided them empty bottles, caps and urea for filling liquor bottles and asked them to prepare spurious liquor, the police said.

Sudhir, one of the accused named in the FIR, was arrested on Wednesday. Since the four deaths were reported, the police and excise officials had been conducting raids and checks to check adulteration and smuggling of liquor in 18 districts of western Uttar Pradesh, including Ghaziabad.

It was on Monday and Tuesday that four deaths in Khoda were reported.

The locals had alleged that the police were hand in glove with liquor smugglers and those who supplied spurious liquor. The district police chief later suspended the station house officer, police post in-charge and two constables of Khoda police station.

The state excise officials on Thursday also confirmed that on the recommendation of officials, they had suspended an excise officer and two excise constables who were deputed for Khoda locality in Ghaziabad.

The four victims were migrant workers from Bihar and worked for daily wages.