Sagar , One of the main accused in the Madhya Pradesh spurious liquor case that has claimed 16 lives was captured early Friday after an encounter with police in the state’s Sagar district, an official said.
He originally hails from UP’s Mahoba district, where his parents live. The official said police intercepted Lakhera in the Baraytha forest, about 40 km from the district headquarters, triggering an exchange of fire. The spurious liquor left 16 dead, while 32 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of the 30 persons shown as accused, 16 have been arrested and one detained. Lakhera, a resident of Gangapuram Colony in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur, which shares a substantial boundary with Sagar district, has around 25 criminal cases registered against him in MP, UP and elsewhere, mostly under the Excise Act, police sources said. He was also wanted in a case registered at Baheriya police station in Sagar in 2025 in connection with illegal liquor brewing, the sources said.
Ravi Lakhera sustained a bullet injury to his leg, while two of his accomplices, who were travelling with him on a motorcycle, managed to flee, said Additional Superintendent of Police Jayveer Bahdoriya. Police sources said Lakhera is in a stable condition.
the Communist Party of India has accused the MP government of shielding the liquor mafia and questioned the earlier claim by Sagar superintendent of police that the spurious liquor was supplied from Lalitpur While Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has ordered a judicial inquiry into the hooch deaths.
