Sagar Hooch Tragedy: Accused’s Houses, Commercial Properties Bulldozed, Judicial Probe Ordered

 Bhopal: A day after chief minister Mohan Yadav gave a free hand to the local administration to crackdown on bootleggers in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district- where a hooch tragedy claimed the lives of over two dozen people- the police rolled out bulldozers against the residential and commercial properties of the key accused in the incident, razing them to the ground.

The local administration has justified its action, saying that the properties of the accused in the Banda area of the district were demolished since they were built on encroached government land.

The residential and commercial properties that were bulldozed belonged to Manish Lodhi, Chandrabhan Rajput, and Ashish Sahoo, the key accused in the incident, an official spokesman said here on Thursday.

The manufacture and sale of illicit liquor were allegedly found to be carried out in some of these properties, police said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Yadav announced that a judicial commission will be set up to probe the Sagar liquor tragedy.

In another development, the state government has appointed senior IPS officer Irshad Wali as the new Sagar range inspector general of police after the retirement of his predecessor Mithilesh Shukla on August 31.

Similarly, Sagar divisional commissioner Anil Suchari has been replaced by Dilip Kumar in the post.

The liquor tragedy claimed the lives of 28 people in Sagar district.

The official death toll however stood at 15.

As many 46 people have still been undergoing treatment in the Bundelkhand Medical College Hospital in Sagar after they fell ill due to consumption of spurious liquor.

Conditions of five of them were stated to be critical.

Meanwhile, people in several villages were on Thursday seen attacking liquor shops in their respective areas.

Such incidents were reported in Bhopal and Shivpuri districts.