Spurious liquor: Ambala transporter who ‘supplied’ raw material held

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, August 6

The Tarn Taran police have nabbed a transporter, Anil Kumar, from Ambala for allegedly supplying extra neutral alcohol (ENA) to Sukhwinder Singh alias Shinder of Toor village, who further supplied it to different parts of Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Batala.

Though Sukhwinder was still at large, his driver Sukhdayal Singh was nabbed and led the police to Anil.

“Anil was an associate of Partap Singh Virk, who was held in May with 50,000 litres of ENA, also known as spirit, from Zirakpur. Anil, a driver earlier, now owns around five trucks. He allegedly used to pilfer spirit from tankers ferrying ENA to distilleries and supply it to Sukhwinder,” said Dhruman Nimblay, SSP, Tarn Taran.

His interrogation was on and more names were likely to crop up, the SSP stated.

While the Amritsar (rural) police have tracked the source of methyl alcohol that led to the high number of deaths in the three districts, the Tarn Taran police have been probing three channels through which the ENA was smuggled into the border districts.

One channel was through Ludhiana-based paint store proprietor Rajeev Joshi, who had sold three drums of methyal alcohol to Ravinder Singh of Moga, who further sold it to Avtar Singh, also of Moga. He then supplied the same to Satnam Singh of Pandori Golan and his brother Shamsher Singh alias Shera. Shera is still absconding. Satnam Singh, who was arrested by the Amritsar (rural) police along with Rajeev, Ravinder and Avtar, had sold methyl alcohol to Gobinder and Mithu.

Investigating the tragedy that claimed over 110 lives in three districts, the police are also exploring another network, allegedly run by Rashpal Singh and his brother Gurpal Singh of Dhotian village. While Gurpal was nabbed by the Phillaur police last month, Rashpal, who also runs a dera in Tarn Taran, was still absconding. He had also procured ENA from Partap Singh Virk and further sold it to Satnam’s uncle Kashmir Singh.

CM to visit Tarn Taran today

Chandigarh: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh along with PPCC chief Sunil Jakhar, Chief Principal Secretary Suresh Kumar and DGP Dinkar Gupta would be visiting Tarn Taran to meet the families of victims on Friday. Sources said he was likely to announce enhanced compensation for the affected families. Jakhar urged the Chief Minister to ensure exemplary action against the conspirators, financiers, patrons and officers involved in spurious liquor tragedy. TNS