Mandi hooch tragedy: 5 more held, in police custody till Jan 29

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Mandi, January 23

Five more accused were arrested by the police in connection with the Mandi hooch tragedy in which seven persons had lost their life, while eight victims are battling for their life in hospitals.

Superintendent of Police Mandi, Shalini Agnihotri said that today the police have arrested Praveen Thakur, a native of Hamirpur; Sunny and Pushpender, both of Aligarh (UP); Sagar Saini of Delhi and AK Tripathi of Samba (Jammu and Kashmir).

Ran illicit bottling unit

• Gaurav Manhas, alias Goru, a native of Kangra district, ran an illicit bottling unit at Hamirpur in collusion with Praveen Thakur of Hamirpur.
• Accused Sagar Saini of Delhi provided spirit drums and AK Tripathi of Jammu and Kashmir provided the formula to prepare strong liquor at a cheap price.
• Accused Sunny and Pushpender were workers in the illicit bottling plant, where mixing of ingredients for manufacture of liquor was done.

The police had yesterday arrested three accused, including the kingpin of this tragedy, who were involved in illicit trade of spurious liquor in the Salappar area of Mandi district. Till date, the police have arrested 12 accused in connection with the hooch tragedy.

The SP stated that “during investigation it was found that Gaurav Manhas, alias Goru, a native of Kangra district, was running an illicit bottling unit at Hamirpur in collusion with accused Praveen Thakur of Hamirpur. Accused Sagar Saini of Delhi was providing spirit drums and accused AK Tripathi of Jammu and Kashmir had provided the formula to prepare strong liquor at a cheap price. Accused Sunny and Pushpender were workers in that illicit bottling plant, where mixing of ingredients for manufacture of liquor is done.”

The SP said that all five accused were produced before the court today, which sent them on police remand till January 29 for further interrogation. Further investigation into the case was going on.