BHOPAL: Bulldozer is in action against the illegal properties of the key accused, who are reportedly behind the recent spurious liquor poisoning deaths of villagers in Sagar district of Madhya Pradesh.
Five structures, including houses, shops and godowns, which were built by encroaching on public land by at least three of the key accused, were demolished by the authorities in different villages of Banda and Shahgarh tehsils of Sagar district on Thursday.
Out of the five bulldozed structures, three were built by Manish Lodhi and one each by Chandrabhan Rajput and Ashish Sahu.
While Manish Lodhi was the licensed liquor vend contractor in Barethi village, whose network has been found to have been used to supply the spurious liquor, Tatarwara village resident Chandrabhan Singh alias Chandu Rajput (who is considered to have influential political contacts in Sagar district) has emerged as the mastermind of the alleged racket, which prepared the spurious liquor and subsequently supplied it to residents of various villages.
The consumption of the concerned spurious liquor has till now reportedly led to the deaths of more than 25 villagers, including one of the accused, Ram Singh.
The third accused whose encroachment on public land was demolished on Thursday is also considered a crucial part of the racket.
While the alleged racket’s mastermind Chandrabhan (who is reportedly a Karni Sena leader) is among the 16 accused who have already been arrested by the police, Manish and Ashish are among the 16 others who are on the run. The Sagar district police have declared a bounty of Rs 20,000 and Rs 10,000 on the arrest of the absconding accused.
The bulldozer action against the encroachments/illegal constructions of the three key accused happened a day after MP Chief Minister Dr Mohan Yadav had announced giving the administration and police a free hand in carrying out demolition action against the illegal properties/encroachments of the accused.
After returning from Sagar district, where he met with the patients at the Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) and later chaired a high-level meeting of officials, the CM had on Wednesday night announced a judicial probe into the Sagar hooch tragedy.
Further, 2004-batch IPS officer Irshad Wali, who is known for stern policing, was appointed the IG-Sagar Police Range, while senior IAS officer Dilip Kumar was appointed the Sagar divisional commissioner.
Meanwhile, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday came down heavily on the BJP, alleging that the "double-engine" government in Madhya Pradesh runs away from accountability as he highlighted deaths due to spurious liquor and contaminated water and cough syrups in the state.
"The BJP government in Madhya Pradesh has crossed the peak of corruption. The state of apathy and negligence is such that now even human lives have no value left," he said in a post in Hindi on X.
In Sagar district, he said, 31 people have lost their lives to poisonous liquor and 11 people are still fighting between life and death.
"for some, a son is gone; for some, a father; for some, a husband. But for the BJP government, this too is just another 'accident'," he added.
Alleging this is because this has been the BJP government's way for the past 22 years, Kharge cited several examples in this regard where none were punished.
In Balaghat, the Congress chief said more than 27 children died, and the High Court had to reprimand the government because the BJP's "incompetent" administration was still waiting for a survey report even after a month had passed. "In Indore, contaminated water claimed 36 lives. 25 children died from poisonous cough syrup. In Sidhi, 53 women died in childbirth in a single year.
"Whether the poison is in the liquor, water, or medicine, every time the people of Madhya Pradesh are paying the price with their lives. And the double-engine government seems to be running away from accountability at twice the speed," he alleged.
Claiming that when the public demands justice, the response by the BJP governments is water cannons and tear gas.
"Be it the central government or the BJP's state governments, no one takes responsibility, and no one gets punished!," he also claimed.
