BHOPAL: While the death toll in the suspected spurious liquor tragedy in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh rose to 13 on Monday, the district administration ordered a magisterial inquiry and the Excise Department of neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district debunked the Sagar district police’s claims of a Lalitpur (UP) link to the tragedy.
“The Sagar district police in MP has made misleading claims before the media about Lalitpur connection to the spurious liquor tragedy. The Lalitpur Police and district excise department had, on May 4, 2026, busted a spurious liquor syndicate headed by Chhatarpur (MP) native Ravi Lakhera, resulting in the arrests of five persons.
All the arrested accused are in judicial custody and Gangster Act proceedings are also underway. Ravi Lakhera was a licensed liquor contractor who ran liquor vends in MP and was also accused in cases related to bootlegging in his home state.
Further, one Akash Rai, who is named in the September 6, 2026 FIR registered at Banda police station in Sagar (MP), has been shown as a resident of Lalitpur (UP). But actually, he has been residing in Banda (Sagar) for ten years. Nowhere in Lalitpur district is illicit liquor being manufactured,” the district excise officer of Lalitpur district in UP stated in an official statement.
Importantly, just a few hours after deaths began occurring in villages of Banda tehsil in Sagar district on Sunday, Sagar district Superintendent of Police Anurag Sujaniya told the media that there was a strong possibility of a Lalitpur (UP) link to the spurious liquor, keeping in mind the recent case involving the busting of a spurious liquor racket in Lalitpur. The MP government had also officially circulated the same information to the media regarding the suspected Lalitpur (UP) link to the tragedy.
Speaking along similar lines as the UP Excise Department, the MP Congress also said the claims of a Lalitpur (UP) link were false.
“The brands whose liquor was consumed by those who died later are all manufactured in MP, including the Sagar Gold brand, which is manufactured at the distillery of a politically powerful family of Banda (Sagar). The UP-link claims have been made just to mislead people and possibly to save some big names and the thriving nexus of powerful politicians-excise department officials-liquor mafia,” alleged Leader of Opposition in the Vidhan Sabha Umang Singhar.
Singhar had met members of the bereaved families in the affected villages of Banda (Sagar) on Sunday and shared his findings with the media in Bhopal on Monday.
He also raised the issue of two contradictory orders issued by a senior state Excise Department official posted in Jabalpur within a few hours on Sunday.
“The concerned official, assistant excise commissioner Sanjiv Dubey in Jabalpur district, first issued an order directing the department’s staff to totally prohibit the sale of poisonous liquor Sagar Gold in all liquor vends of Jabalpur district in the wake of reports of deaths after consumption of liquor of the concerned brand in Sagar district.
Just a few hours later, the same excise department official in Jabalpur district partially amended the earlier order, asking the department staff in Jabalpur district to just conduct normal examination of liquor vends, as the availability of Sagar Gold liquor brand in shops in Jabalpur was negligible. Why this flip-flop within a few hours only? Was it to save someone big?” questioned Singhar.
While demanding Rs 25 lakh compensation for each of the bereaved families, Singhar said the spurious liquor racket in Sagar, particularly in the Banda area, runs deep into the villages.
“The families who have either lost their members or their kin are hospitalised have told us that the liquor which turned killer was available everywhere, spanning from licensed liquor shops to dhabas and grocery stores, while vehicles of bootleggers also make supplies to individual villages. What were the enforcement authorities doing? Were they waiting for the tragedy to strike?”
Meanwhile, Sagar district Collector Pratibha Pal on Monday ordered a magisterial inquiry into the entire tragedy.
The SDM (Jaisinagar) will head the probe, which will examine in detail the circumstances in which the incident occurred, the actual cause of the deaths and who was responsible for them.
The magisterial inquiry will also determine whether the actual cause of death of the deceased was consumption of suspected substandard/illicit liquor or some other cause.
In addition, facts related to the manufacture, storage and distribution of liquor will be investigated. The inquiry will also ascertain who was involved in the matter. It will examine whether any negligence was committed by the concerned regulatory departments in the discharge of their duties, who was primarily responsible for the incident, and what administrative and legal steps can be taken to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future.
While confirming to TNIE that a magisterial probe had been ordered, Sagar district Collector Pratibha Pal said the death of one more patient, who had been airlifted to Bhopal, on Monday took the official death toll to 13. However, local media reports put the toll at more than 20.
In a related development, Sagar district police have registered two FIRs in the matter against 30 persons, of whom at least 14 have been arrested so far.
