MP Cop Run Over by Truck Carrying Illegal Liquor, Probe Ordered

Bhopal: A police sub-inspector was run over by a truck carrying illegal liquor after being intercepted in Madhya Pradesh’s Dewas district, police said on Monday.

The incident took place late on Sunday night on the Harda-Nemawar Highway, police said.

Khategaon police station in-charge Dilip Puri who was heading a team of policemen to seize the truck transporting illicit liquor following inputs in this regard tracked the heavy vehicle at the check-point and intercepted it.

According to the police, the driver had parked the truck on the road near a roadside hotel to drink water and tried to flee the spot with the truck after being asked by the police sub-inspector to get down.

Mr. Puri fell down and came under the rear wheel in the process, leading to his death.

“The driver ran the truck over him, causing grievous injuries to him. He was rushed to the hospital but doctors could not save him despite their best efforts”, Dewas district superintendent of police Aditya Mishra said.

The truck was carrying more than 1,800 liters of illegal liquor, according to the police.

According to Mr. Mishra, intelligence inputs tipped off on the transportation of illegal liquor in a truck and five police teams were constituted to track and seize it.

The slain police sub-inspector was heading one of the police teams in the operation.

A crackdown on the illegal liquor trade in the district has been launched following the death of 13 people allegedly due to consumption of spurious liquor in the two villages of Chandana and Binjana in the district recently.

Chief minister Mohan Yadav ordered the special director general of police, economic offence wing (EOW) of the Madhya Pradesh police, Upendra Kumar Jain, to probe the incident.

Mr. Jain who reached the spot for enquiry said that the police already identified the driver and the transporter of the illegal liquor and also the source of the liquor consignment.

“The entire chain of the trafficking of the consignment has been identified and all the culprits will be arrested soon”, he said.

He however refused to identify them in the interest of investigation.

Madhya Pradesh minister Visvas Sarang alleged a hand of a particular liquor mafia in the incident.

He alleged that the liquor trader, linked to the incident, is a Congress leader.

Congress spokesman Mukesh Nayak reacted strongly to the minister’s statement, saying that ‘Who stopped the state government to arrest any liquor mafia in the state’.

He said that a parallel illegal liquor trade network is running in the state and the state government is keeping a blind eye to it, leading to a series of hooch tragedies in recent times.

According to the police, the illegal liquor consignment was coming from Timrani in Harda district in Madhya Pradesh and going to Gujarat.

The alleged kingpin in the illegal liquor trafficking from Harda to Gujarat, Rahul Jaiswal, along with the driver of the truck Gajendra alias Akku Rawat and transporter Karam Singh were detained for interrogation.

A case has been registered in connection with the incident..