Hooch Kingpin Nabbed from Tamil Nadu District
Express News
Bangalore/ Chennai, May 23: The Karnataka Police, according to sources, have detained a man believed to be one of the key figures in the manufacture of the deadly brew that led to the death of nearly 200 people in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. However, the Tamil Nadu Police, who share the blame for giving a free run to bootleggers dealing in cheap liquor that led to the deaths, denied having any information about the arrest.
Sources in the state police said, Sounder Rajan (38), a resident of the Devara Jeevanahalli area in east Bangalore, who brewed at least some of the poisonous liquor in his backyard, was arrested in Namakkal district of Tamil Nadu. Rajan, who is named in police records for several crimes, had disappeared with his wife soon after the first deaths were reported on May 18.
Police sources said a search is also on to find Rajan’s brother-in-law and another illicit liquor brewer from east Bangalore, going by the name Iqbal ‘Bhatti’ (the local term for illicit liquor). The police are trying to establish the entire network of manufacture, distribution and vending system for the illicit brew, as part of their investigations — including the complicity of the police and excise departments.
Meanwhile, in another development in the case, one Mustu, alias Mushtaq, who the police claimed supplied 500 sachets to Rajan, committed suicide by consuming poison.
Alarmingly, the sale and consumption of hooch is continuing with nonchalance, leading to more deaths in both sides of the border. This has attracted the ire of the State Human Rights Commission in Karnataka, which has minced no words in criticising the laxity on the part of police and excise departments.
The SHRC has directed the principal secretaries of Home, Finance and Excise departments, Bangalore City Commissioner and the Commissioner of Excise to appear before the commission with reports on June 16.
“It is difficult to believe that a tragedy of this magnitude would occur without the knowledge of law enforcing authorities, particularly the field officers of the excise and police departments,” SHRC chairman Justice S R Nayak has stated in its directive to the state Government.
The Karnataka rights panel has also filed a suo motu case against the state police and excise officials for their laxity. The commission has criticised the authorities for according special status to those residing in upmarket areas and showing a ‘partisan attitude’ towards those in areas like DJ Halli. “Are they second class citizens?” asked an angry chairperson to the officials, ordering them to ensure proper amenities for all alike.