Long border, cheap spirit: MP part of Bundelkhand sees 2nd hooch tragedy in 6 yrs with ‘UP link’

Sagar (MP), Sep 6 (PTI) The Madhya Pradesh part of the Bundelkhand region has witnessed its second hooch tragedy in six years, with a suspected link to spurious liquor supplied from neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, following the deaths of 11 persons in Sagar district on Sunday, officials said.

In February 2021, four persons had died after consuming a country-made liquor brand called 'Dilse' purchased from a shop in UP, according to police.

This time, the victims are suspected to have consumed spurious whisky falsely labelled as ‘Sagar Gold’ as well as another country-made liquor brand, MP Excise Commissioner Deepak Saxena said. Besides the fatalities, 54 others fell ill after consuming the hooch.

The Bundelkhand region straddles northern MP and Uttar Pradesh. Sagar in MP and Lalitpur district in UP share a substantial direct boundary.

Alcohol and petrol are comparatively much cheaper in UP, which encourages scores of people from MP to cross the nearly seamless border to buy both, said local journalist Pushpendra Singh. More than a dozen districts in MP touch UP.

“A link between people in Lalitpur, a district in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh, and the local liquor contractor (outlet owner) has emerged during the investigation into the 11 deaths,” Sagar Range Deputy Inspector General of Police Shashindra Chouhan said.

The 54 who have fallen ill include 49 with symptoms like blurred vision and dizziness, said officials.

Police have detained some persons for questioning and those named as accused in the FIRs are being taken into custody, he said, adding that they would be arrested once the charges against them are confirmed.

Saxena said Sagar Assistant Excise Commissioner Kirti Dubey, Additional District Excise Officer Dilip Kandeka and Sub-Inspector Roshani Urathi had been suspended.

Area Deputy Commissioner Neerja Shrivastava was transferred out of Sagar and attached to the department’s headquarters in Gwalior, he said.

Saxena, who visited Sagar, said the preliminary investigation suggested that the tragedy was caused by fake liquor that had been supplied, while police were probing where it had been manufactured.

“The packing of the spurious liquor looked original, like that of local brands -- Sagar Gold, a whisky and a country-made liquor brand. The agent of the licensed liquor seller sold the alcohol, and people thought it was genuine,” he said.

The latest tragedy has echoes of the February 2021 incident in Chhatarpur district, when around 150 people had gathered for a party in Paretha village, about 55 km from the district headquarters.

They had purchased liquor branded ‘Dilse’ from a shop located about 500 metres away in neighbouring UP and consumed it, the then Chhatarpur Superintendent of Police Sachin Sharma had said.

In January 2021, nearly two dozen persons had died after consuming spurious liquor in MP’s Morena district.