Main accused in MP hooch tragedy captured after police encounter in Sagar

One of the main accused in the Madhya Pradesh spurious liquor case that has claimed 16 lives was captured early Friday after an encounter with police in Sagar district, an official said.

Ravi Lakhera, 45, sustained a bullet injury to his leg, while two of his accomplices, who were travelling with him on a motorcycle, managed to flee, Additional Superintendent of Police Jayveer Bahdoriya said.

Police intercepted Lakhera in the Baraytha forest, around 40 km from the Sagar district headquarters, following which an exchange of fire took place, the official said.

A bullet hit Lakhera in the leg and he was taken to a hospital in Banda in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh for treatment, Bahdoriya told PTI over the phone. Police sources said he was in a stable condition.

Lakhera is alleged to have been involved in manufacturing spurious liquor along with licensed liquor contractor Manish Lodhi, alias Yashwant Singh Lodhi. The liquor was allegedly distributed through peddlers in Sagar district.

The spurious liquor has left 16 people dead, while 32 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of the 30 people shown as accused in the case, 16 have been arrested and one detained.

Lakhera, a resident of Gangapuram Colony in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur, has around 25 criminal cases registered against him in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, mostly under the Excise Act, police sources said. He originally hails from Mahoba district, where his parents live.

He was also wanted in a case registered at Baheriya police station in Sagar in 2025 in connection with illegal liquor brewing, the sources said.

Police alleged that Lakhera was well-versed in liquor manufacturing and procuring materials used in its production and operated a team involved in making spurious liquor.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has ordered a judicial inquiry into the hooch deaths.

Meanwhile, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) accused the Madhya Pradesh government of shielding the liquor mafia and questioned an earlier claim by the Sagar superintendent of police that the spurious liquor had been supplied from Lalitpur.