Mandi: Special police investigation team investigating the production and sale of spurious liquor have made a breakthrough with the arrest of the main accused and 6 other people alleged to be involved in the illegal business.
The alleged main accused Gaurav Minhas, alias Goru, a resident of Simbal Khola, near Panchrukhi in Kangra district was arrested on Saturday. Investigators have also seized Rs 25 lakh and incriminating documents from the accused.
Giving details about the investigation, senior police officer Madhusudan said that earlier four persons Sohan Lal alias Ravi, Pradeep Kumar, Jagdish Chand and Achchar Singh had been arrested as their involvement was established in the supply and selling of spurious liquor in Salapad area of Mandi district. Two persons Narendra Alias Kalu and Ajay Kohli who are alleged to be the main suppliers of the illegal liquor arrested as the investigation progressed.
During interrogation, it came to light that Gaurav Minhas was running two plants at Hamirpur and Nalagarh for the production of spurious liquor. In Hamirpur, he is alleged to be running this illicit business with the help of one Praveen Thakur at his premises in Garne Da Galu. Workers Sunny and Pushpender were involved in the production process.
The police team has seized the bottling plant, all raw material and the equipment used. The Nalagarh bottling plant has also been seized.
The police investigation has also found the involvement of one, AK Tripathi from the state of Jammu & Kashmir was is believed to have been involved in providing inputs for the manufacturing process and Sagar Saini, a resident of Delhi, is said to be the supplier of sprit for making the liquor.
Mandi police superintended Shalini Agnihotri said, “the investigation is in progress and the main accused Gaurav Minhas along with 6 others have already been arrested.”
Consumption of contraband spurious liquor has led to the death of 7 persons and 4 were seriously taken ill on 18th January in the Salapad area under Sundernagar sub-division of Mandi district. The police investigation team had seized 56 boxes of country-made liquor and 1 box of branded liquor from the site where the persons had died.
A senior journalist who has spent more than a decade in the profession, working for Amar Ujala and Aapka Faisla.
