This is why we buy our liquor legally.......

Smooch of hooch, kiss of death

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Gandhinagar: Two more labour-dominated localities of Amraiwadi and Odhav in east Ahmedabad reported hooch deaths, taking the toll to 54 on Wednesday, even as public hospitals saw a continuous stream of patients with signs of vision loss, nausea and burning in the stomach.
Anger and grief came out in the affected areas as residents of Amraiwadi attacked police vehicles following the deaths. Kagdapith area where the hooch deaths were first reported on Tuesday saw a complete bandh as women vent out anger against the authorities for the ineffective prohibition laws. It was not clear whether all these areas had sourced brew from the same place and what exactly went wrong.
Director general of police Sabir Khandwawala admitted at a press conference that there was serious negligence on part of the police in checking the flow of liquor. This, even as families of victims alleged that the cops were hand in glove with bootleggers. Banners put up on the main Kagdapith road detailed the nexus between police and bootleggers, naming women from Kantodiavaas, who reportedly sold the brew.
Khandwawala said police suspect that Harishankar Kahar alias Hari Om, a bootlegger from Bapunagar, had supplied the liquor to residents of Kagdapith and Odhav.
He, however, admitted that police have not been able to find the source of the spurious liquor – whether it came from outside Gujarat or was made within the state. “We have suspended and transferred four police inspectors and two assistant commissioners,” he said.
AMC staffers among victims: Two AMC employees were among the victims. Gaya Prasad Yadav, 45, a resident of Rakhial and a teacher in Municipal Hindi Shala No 4 and a class IV employee - Pankaj Purohit, 45, of Saraspur - were among the dead. BREWING A DEADLY TRAIL
PROBE PANEL SET UP
Government has appointed a four-member commission, headed by Gujarat HCJustice (retd) Kamal M Mehta, to inquire into the hooch tragedy in Ahmedabad. Minister of state for home and prohibition Amit Shah told the Assembly on Wednesday the commission will include Dr MS Dhaiya from Forensic Science Laboratory, retired director general of police GC Raigar and Dr Kirit Mithawala from MP Shah Cancer Hospital. The report will be submitted on or before November 30, 2009.
BOOTLEGGER BEHIND TRAGEDY HAD COPS’ SUPPORT
The man who was blamed by the DGP for causing the hooch tragedy — Harishankar Kahar alias Hari Om, 32 — has been running his business with the blessings of some cops. Hari Om, a notorious bootlegger, is well-known among Bacchus lovers in the city and police officials. He began bootlegging 10 years ago at CMC Canal, a section of Kharicut Canal. He used to work for Ramesh Thakore, a bootlegger then. Soon, he started his own business near Kheta Vanzara na Chhapra. He was arrested and jailed under PASA for four times. Till February, 2009, he did roaring business. Then came state government’s pre-poll orders to crack down on liquor dens which forced him to scale down his operations. After the rath yatra in June, he reopened his den with the tacit support of Odhav police. Till Tuesday evening, said sources, he was doing good business. Long after the tragedy, a police team raided his place and seized 200 litres of liquor. He is still at large. TNN
DEATH TOLL | 54
Daily wage labourers who drank regularly in the chawls of east Ahmedabad did not know Sunday’s brew would prove fatal. So far the killer drink has claimed 54 lives and there could be more

Hari Om