Court sentences 3 to life in hooch tragedy

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The court of Additional Judicial Commissioner (AJC), Ranchi on Monday sentenced three persons to life imprisonment in connection with hooch tragedy that lead to death of three persons in Ranchi in September 2017.

The AJC Shree Prakash Dubey sentenced Indrabhan Thapa, Gautam Thapa and Prahlad Singhania under part I of section 304 and 34 of IPC. He also imposed a fine of Rs one lakh each on them with an order that amount collected as fine be distributed equally among the parents of the deceased persons. The convicts would undergo two more years in jail in case of default in payment of fine.

Informing about the decision additional public prosecutor DN Dwivedi said prosecution produced 15 witnesses in the trail while the defense presented one. He added one of the accused persons Umesh Gurung was, however, acquitted in the case.

It may be mentioned that three persons namely Amit Tiwari, Sandip Choudhary and Arvind Yadav alias Bittu died after consuming alcohol purchased from shop of Indrabhan located near the Nepal house on September 3, 2017. Gautam Thapa was at the shop counter when the liquor was purchased.

Passing the order the judge stated that the greed of the accused persons led them to make quick money which in turn led to this sordid episode. He added the convicts could not establish their innocence beyond reasonable doubts.

The Sukhdeonagar police had registered a case (431/17) under several sections of IPC on September 4, 2017 on the information of Santosh Singh.

Singh told the police that he along with Amit, Sandeep, Bittu, Vikas and Rahul had purchased liquor from shop on September 3. He added that they consumed it at an ‘akahra’ in the Kailash Mandir and danced till 8 pm. The next morning he felt sick and was taken to the Sadar hospital and later to Rajendra Institute of Medical Science for treatment.

Notably, three other persons died after consuming the liquor while Vikas Ram and Santosh managed to survive. The autopsy report of the deceased stated that poisoning was cause of deaths.

The court had held three accused guilty of the crime on August 16. During the argument on point of sentencing on Monday, the additional public prosecutor DN Dwiwedi pleaded for deterrent punishment in the case.