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Punjab Hooch Tragedy: In Letter to CM, BJP MP Sunny Deol Seeks ‘Impartial’ Probe, Death Toll Rises to 110
Deol, the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur, also dubbed the magisterial inquiry ordered by the Punjab government as a 'mere eyewash'.
New Delhi: BJP MP and Bollywood actor Sunny Deol on Monday wrote to Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh over the recent hooch tragedy in the state. Seeking impartial probe into the case, Deol also dubbed the magisterial inquiry ordered by the Punjab government as a ‘mere eyewash’.
In his letter to the Chief Minister, the BJP MP wrote, “One and all in the country are saddened and concerned with the hooch tragedy that has taken away more than 100 previous human lives in Punjab”.
Notably, with six more deaths on Monday, the death toll due to the tragedy reached 110. Sunny Deol is the Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur; Gurdaspur’s Batala is one of the three districts affected by the tragedy.
Deol further wrote that the incident reflected the ‘total intelligence failure’ of law enforcement agencies in gathering information on the ongoing spurious liquor trade, allegedly in connivance with some officials and ‘under the shelter of some powerful politicians of the ruling party’.
A total of 37 people have been arrested in the case of thus far, including 12 on Monday.
Citing media reports, the BJP MP alleged that the ‘kingpin’ behind the tragedy had been operating from Batala ‘for a long time’, remarking that ‘it is difficult to digest that she was operating without the knowledge and blessings of the powerful’.
“Hence, a magisterial enquiry will be an ‘eyewash’ and serve no purpose unless a full-fledged free and fair and impartial investigation is made, officials and culprits are booked and stringent action is taken against them”, Deol concluded in his letter.
The tragedy began on Wednesday in the districts of Tarn Taran, Batala and Amritsar. Tarn Taran has bore the brunt of it, with 83 of the 110 deaths taking place here. Batala and Amritsar, meanwhile, have seen 14 and 13 deaths on respectively.
The death count from the three districts from Monday was three, two and one respectively.
(With PTI inputs)
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