Six more people have died as a result of the suspected use of fake alcohol in Punjab’s Sangrur district, bringing the total number of deaths to twenty, according to officials today.
In the meantime, an additional director general of police (ADGP) rank officer has established a four-person special investigation team (SIT) to probe the incident.
Six patients are being treated at the Civil Hospital in Sangrur and eleven at the Rajindra Hospital in Patiala.
According to Sangrur Civil Surgeon Kirpal Singh, 20 people have lost their lives in the incident thus far.
According to the officials, Gujran, Tibbi Ravidaspura, and Dhandoli Khurd villages in the Dirba and Sunam blocks have reported casualties.
According to the police, they have already made six arrests in this case.
The opposition parties Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) have been criticizing the AAP government for the Sangrur hooch tragedy.
A case has already been registered under Section 302 (murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Excise Act.
The police on Saturday said that a high-level committee has been set up to supervise uncovering of the backward and forward linkages in a professional and scientific manner to unearth the nexus behind the whole matter.
A four-member SIT headed by ADGP (law and order) Gurinder Singh Dhillon will supervise the investigations.
The SIT will include Additional Commissioner (Excise) Naresh Dubey, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur, Sartaj Chahal, and Deputy Inspector General (Patiala Range), Harcharan Bhullar.
“The SIT will investigate the conspiracy to its core. “No one found to be involved will be spared,” the police declared.
A five-person committee headed by the Dirba sub-divisional magistrate has already been established by the district administration to look into the situation.
200 liters of ethanol, 156 bottles of alcohol, 130 bottles labeled with suspected spurious liquor, 80 bottles labeled without, 4,500 empty bottles, a bottling machine, and other items had previously been found by the police.
In light of the impending Lok Sabha elections, the police claimed that with the arrests made up until Thursday, they had broken up a gang that had recently begun selling counterfeit alcohol in the area.
According to a statement from the police, the gang may have influenced how the elections were conducted by enticing voters.
In the impacted villages, a survey was also being carried out to see if any other people had also noticed signs of a decline in their health.
