Moonshine hits a deadly blind spot in M.P.’s Sagar

Rajdhar Sen lies on a bed in the ward of the Netra Rog Vibhag (Ophthalmology Department) at the Bundelkhand Medical College (BMC) in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district, surrounded by his family members. At every sound, Rajdhar gets up, frantically turning his head in all directions, and tries to speak something. Rajdhar, 49, a resident of Sagar district’s Budna village in Shahgarh tehsil, has lost his vision almost entirely after drinking spurious or moonshine liquor that has so far killed 16 people in the region.

“Shanivar ko humne laal waala piya tha ₹80 ka. Pahle safed peetey the, lekin ye laal wala humayi basti mein milan laga tha toh le liya. Humayi tabiyat bigdi savere chaar baje, saans phoolne lagi or ulti hui. Teen din se kuch nahi dikh raho hai, aapka chehra nahi dikh raha hai sirf kala-kala, dhundhla dikh raha hai. (On Saturday (September 5), I drank the red liquor, which costs ₹80. Earlier, I used to drink the white one, but the red variety became available in my neighbourhood, so I bought it. I fell ill at 4 a.m.; I started gasping for breath first and then vomited. For the last three days, I haven’t been able to see anything clearly — I can’t make out your face; everything just looks like a dark, hazy blur),” says Rajdhar, who works as a mason. He slurs as he narrates his ordeal, which is quite similar to those lying on the neighbouring beds in the ward.

For several villages in Sagar’s Banda and Shahgarh subdivisions, the intervening night of September 5 and 6 came with chaos and panic as men started to collapse with dizziness, seizures and loss of vision. Their family members rushed them to the nearest medical centres, mostly to the Government Civil Hospital, Banda.

As the number of patients increased, the doctors at the civil hospital informed the local administration and by 5.30 a.m. the District Collector and Magistrate of Sagar Pratibha Pal received a call from Superintendent of Police Anurag Sujania, prompting her to rush to Banda.

Some patients were brought dead to Banda, others died on the hospital premises, while several others were immediately referred to different government hospitals in Sagar, including Government District Hospital and BMC located on Tili Road in Vaishali Nagar. By September 6, 11 people had died in one of the worst hooch tragedies in Madhya Pradesh in the last five years.

The official death toll has now gone up to 16 even as local residents and media reports peg the numbers above 30.

On September 6, the police lodged two separate cases at Banda and Binaika police stations, accusing as many as 30 people.

Over the past one week, 17 of them have been arrested, including the key accused Chandrabhan Rajput alias Chandu Raja and Ravi Lakhera, who was held on September 11. On September 6, three Excise Department officials, including an Assistant Commissioner, were suspended for negligence and failing to act on the ground despite recent complaints about illicit liquor being sold openly in the villages. Deputy Commissioner (Excise) and in-charge of the Divisional Flying Squad Neerja Srivastava was attached to the Gwalior headquarters. Two police officers, including Banda station in-charge Rajendra Singh Kushwaha, were also suspended.

Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, who visited Sagar on Wednesday, issued orders for a judicial probe into the matter. “The police have demonstrated their efficiency, and this is why I had issued the instructions for strict action. We will not spare anyone. We will also launch a campaign against drug abuse across the State and deal strictly with those responsible for such incidents,” Yadav said on Friday.

Mourning and anger

A drive from Banda to surrounding villages during the monsoon is punctuated by a serene landscape, dotted by small hills. However, sorrow and fury define the emotional climate in these villages. At the first T-point of the Bamura Bheda village in Sagar’s Banda tehsil, one sees people sitting on plastic chairs. They are the friends and family members of the four persons who lived in the three houses located at the T-point and died after drinking spurious liquor.

Badi Bahu, 66, sits alone at the gate of her broken house. She lost her son, Rajkumar Lodhi, 35, who worked as a labourer and was the family’s only breadwinner, to the tragedy. Badi Bahu is now alone; her husband died about six years ago.

“He drank alcohol before he returned home from work and slept. Then he woke me up in the middle of the night and said that he was not feeling well. Before I could understand anything, he fainted. Since I cannot walk properly, neighbours took him to the hospital but he could not be saved. I don’t know where he bought the liquor from or who made him drink but I am now left alone,” she saya, cursing her fate.

In the neighbouring house, a family lost two of its members — Govind Lodhi, 62, and his eldest son Ram Prasad Lodhi, 40. The younger son, Bhoore Lodhi, 35, is currently being treated at BMC. Inside, a group of women sit on the floor mourning and blaming the authorities for failing to check the illicit liquor trade in the region.

Govind’s daughter Maya Lodhi, 30, says, “Of the three men in our family, two are gone and one is struggling in the hospital. It’s just women and children left and none of us work. My brother (Ram Prasad) has left two daughters and a younger son. They are all in school and his wife is ill. Who will take their responsibility?”

Maya says that the ₹4 lakh compensation, announced by the government for each deceased’s family, is not enough. “Can we educate and marry all the children with this money,” she asks. The family also raises questions over the facilities at government hospitals saying that “had their family members received proper treatment at Banda Civil Hospital, they could have been saved.”

“The government has made hospitals but forgot to check if the staffers and doctors work properly or not. They just sit and prescribe medicines without properly checking the patients or getting any tests done. They don’t care how the patient is feeling,” says Maya.

In another house, Dinesh Singh Dangi, 41, says his brother Sumer Singh Dangi, 45, died after suffering seizures and losing his vision due to the spurious alcohol.

“He first complained of chest pain and high blood pressure; we thought it was a heart attack. We immediately rushed him to Banda Civil hospital, but on the way he experienced stiffness in his body and vomited white, foam-like liquid. A little amount of the same liquid came out of his eyes too. He stopped responding in the car so I started pumping his chest. He could not make it to the hospital. His body turned blue,” says Dinesh, adding “nobody should die like this”.

Bamura Bheda has lost six persons to the tragedy. About 25 kilometres away, in Gugra Khurd village five persons have died after drinking spurious liquor. Neelesh Lodhi, 30, a labourer from the village was referred to Hamidia Hospital in Bhopal for better treatment but could not survive. His family blames the doctors for negligence.

Neelesh’s brother-in-law, Jasvendra Lodhi, says that the doctors in Bhopal asked him to find an injection. “They said it was necessary to save his life. Some relatives and I ran from one pharmacy to another but could not find it. When we told the doctors, they said they could not do anything and it was our responsibility to find the injection,” he says. Jasvendra says that he lodged a complaint against the doctor with the Chief Minister’s helpline. “After that I have received two-three calls from the same doctor asking me to withdraw my complaint, but I refused,” he adds.

A tragedy awaits

More than 150 people from several villages in the region have so far fallen ill due to the spurious liquor, as per official figures. More than 30 are still undergoing treatment. Collector Pal says that the official death toll, which is 16 people so far, has been recorded based on the post-mortem reports. She says that viscera samples of several other deceased, whose families claimed that they died due to the spurious liquor, have been sent for forensic tests to ascertain the exact cause of deaths.

“Viscera samples of some people, whose post-mortem reports did not link their deaths to counterfeit liquor or did not show an exact cause of death, have been sent for forensic analysis. If it is shown in the reports, we will have no hesitation in including them in the toll,” she says.

Across villages, there is a wave of anger against the administration. Villagers allege that illicit liquor has been sold openly in villages for years from kirana shops and even houses. “You could get countrymade cheap liquor in every village. People would get liquor stock illegally from licensed government shops in nearby villages and sell them from anywhere in our village,” says Deshraj Lodhi, a resident of Gugra Khurd.

Youth in various villages say that about two years ago, locals had formed local committees against the sale and consumption of liquor within the village.

“The rule was that if anybody wants to drink, they could at their homes because men would drink outside and cause accidents or get into fights. We also started giving complaints about those selling liquor in the village to the police, but it did not work because the police would barely come to take any action. Even if they came sometimes, they would take the person selling the liquor with them and he would return in a few days. And in the meantime, their family members, including women, would continue the business,” adds Deshraj.

The committees, however, had to be disbanded in most villages as they lacked support from the authorities and would cause animosity among locals. The fear persists even after the tragedy with locals hesitating to name those who sold liquor in their villages.

Anil Thakur, 28, a resident of Bamura Bheda, says, “Even now, families of some people who have been arrested came to fight with us as they believe that we gave their names. We can’t tell you who the people are because it would cause fights in the village.”

Collector Pal admits the lapse and says that the administration has formed a special team to run a campaign against intoxication and addiction in the region. “These teams will work in the villages and also try to revive these old committees so that they can work more effectively,” she says.

Hariom Chaturvedi, a lawyer and activist based in Banda, says that most licensed liquor shops in the region would get illegal stock from the distilleries and then supply it to villages. “Over the years, they started a ‘diary system’ to maintain the records of illegal liquor. This was to divide their areas of supply,” he adds.

Nexus of illicit liquor

In the wake of the tragedy, a few popular brands of cheap liquor, including Sagar Gold of DCR Distillery and illicitly made Bambaiya Whiskey, invited suspicion. Locals identify them as red and white liquor. This led to the Excise Department issuing orders to prohibit the sale of Sagar Gold.

However, days of investigation and questioning of accused revealed a bigger conspiracy and nexus of counterfeit liquor made using the name of Sagar Gold, by the prime accused Chandrabhan Rajput, Lakhera and Manish Lodhi, who owns a licensed liquor shop in Barethi village in Shahgarh tehsil.

As per police records seen by The Hindu, Rajput, divisional president of Karni Sena and a resident of Shahgarh’s Tatarwara village, came in contact with Manish through a relative, Shivanjay Rajput. Manish further connected him to Lakhera, an inter-State liquor smuggler and a resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur district, who arranged the liquor-making formula for them. The three then planned on manufacturing counterfeit liquor. Two days before Janmashtami, Lakhera supplied raw material such as spirit, packaging material and wrapper of Sagar Gold brand.

A senior police officer says Rajput, Manish and Shivanjay then made counterfeit liquor with Sagar Gold’s name in Rajput’s maize field in Tatarwara village, and supplied 50 cartons of it in various villages through salesmen.

The two FIRs show that the counterfeit liquor was sold for about ₹60 and ₹70 per quarter bottle, ₹20-₹30 cheaper than actual Sagar Gold which is sold for ₹100. The locals who got suspicious were assured that it was the same liquor brand and had come from Manish’s licensed shop.

SP Sujania says that it has been confirmed that the deaths were caused by methyl alcohol poisoning. The Collector says that the test reports of the counterfeit liquor seized from the accused are still awaited. “But it is suspected that they had mixed high percentage of methyl alcohol in the liquor,” Pal said. Sujania admits that the police had received intelligence about the network of counterfeit liquor in the region. “We had started working on it but it took us some time to develop on the inputs. We made a small error in this but we tried our best to avoid this incident,” he adds. Sujania says that as soon as the tragedy came to light, the accused destroyed a large quantity of counterfeit liquor and materials used in the manufacturing but the police managed to seize some items, including 164 empty bottles of Sagar Gold and plain liquor, 170 bottle caps, 150 labels along with other items and hundreds of litres of illicit liquor.

While the police have arrested 17 people in the case so far, various accused including Manish remain at large.

Chaturvedi, however, claims that the network of illicit liquor goes far beyond the men named in the cases and alleges “involvement and protection” of several senior political leaders of the district. He says that some of the prime accused in the case have political connections and are often seen with powerful leaders. “The police and the administration are aware of all these networks but how will they act against anyone who has such powerful friends,” he asks.

Senior Congress leader and former Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Digvijaya Singh alleges that the business of making illicit liquor “could not have been run without the administration’s approval and cooperation”.

“Should we not acknowledge the involvement of the administration, government officials, and the Minister whose name has surfaced?” Singh asked, without naming anyone. Singh’s remarks, however, drew a response from former MLA and BJP leader from Sagar Arunoday Choubey who claimed that the Congress leader was making misleading claims by linking “accused Sidhharth Kushwaha to (BJP Minister) Govind Singh Rajput”, a powerful leader from Sagar.

Singh has gone on to allege that illicit liquor is being sold in the State at about 1,700 locations.

“Why are they letting this happen? Why has no action been taken on this as this also impacts the government’s revenue. This is happening because somewhere the administration and BJP leaders are involved in this,” he said Saturday.

mehul.malpani@thehindu.co.in

Edited by Sunalini Mathew and Amarjot Kaur