Bhavnagar, Gujarat Police have arrested 13 more persons in connection with the hooch tragedy in Bhavnagar, including a man from Madhya Pradesh who played a major role in the manufacture of the spurious liquor that claimed 13 lives, officials said on Tuesday.
The police are investigating the source of methanol and other chemicals, the transporters involved, and all those linked to procuring and moving raw materials used in manufacturing spurious liquor. As part of the investigation, the SMC seized bottles of liquor containing poisonous chemicals and earlier arrested 14 persons involved in the crime. As many as 16 teams of SMC, a special Gujarat police unit that tracks state-wide illicit liquor and gambling operations, spread out in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat to gather evidence, the release said. Raees and Zuber, his assistant from Ujjain, procured raw materials from Ahmedabad and prepared the toxic liquor at Solanki’s residence, according to the FIR registered at Vartej police station on August 19.
“After thorough interrogation of the accused arrested earlier, the police’s State Monitoring Cell arrested 13 more accused on Sunday and remanded them in police custody till September 2,” a police release said. one Anand Chhandi, a resident of Rajgarh district in MP, was brought to Bhavnagar from Ujjain to allegedly manufacture spurious liquor, and he has a “very big role” in the conspiracy While a majority of those arrested are from Bhavnagar. He also allegedly played a major role in procurement of chemicals used in the manufacturing process, the police said. Solanki told the police that he came in contact with Raees through a common friend.
The examination of the blood sample of the first victim, Upendrasinh Gohil, showed the presence of methanol. More deaths followed, and many more were hospitalised with severe complications.
