Hooch tragedy: another Vadodara connection established

Giri,who had lost the VMC election,is a chemical dealer by profession. According to the police,he was acquainted with Thakkar and had introduced the latter to Vinod Chauhan alias Dagri at the behest of his nephew,Rakesh Giri.

The uncle-nephew duo is presently at large. While addressing media persons on Friday after the Ahmedabad Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) arrested Chauhan,Thakkar and a Vadodara-based bootlegger,Sunil More,Gujarat Police chief S S Khandwawala had named Subhash as a key person in the nexus involved in the spurious hooch racket.

“When they were in a Junagadh jail last year,Chauhan had asked More to help him contact someone who deals in chemicals. After serving prison terms under PASA,More introduced Chauhan to Rakesh Giri. Rakesh in turn took Chauhan to his uncle,and Giri later introduced Chauhan to Thakkar,” Khandwawala had said.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Thakkar had sent methanol samples to Chauhan on July 2. A day later,Chauhan and More procured about 1,200 litres of methanol from him. This was used for manufacturing over 4,000 litres of the killer brew. While about 1,100 litres of this methanol-laced concoction was already distributed to bootleggers in Ahmedabad,Chauhan destroyed the remaining mixture after people in Majoor Gam area started dying,the police said.

BJP,Cong disown Subhash Giri

IN THEIR bid to dissociate from bootlegger Subhash Giri Goswamy alias Dagdi,who has been arrested in connection with the hooch tragedy,both the Congress and the BJP are attributing his political connection to the other side. While the BJP has come out with a CD containing Goswamy’s photo with Rahul Gandhi,the Congress insists he is still a BJP worker.

While Vadodara mayor and local MP Balkrishna Shukla released the CD,state BJP spokesman I K Jadeja has said that Goswamy being a BJP man was “far from truth” and that he was,in fact,a Congressman for the last 10 years.

Jadeja said the BJP is in possession of a video footage,dated February 13,where Goswamy can be seen garlanding Rahul Gandhi at a Vadodara function. He said this established a direct link between the Congress and bootleggers responsible for the tragedy.

On the other hand,the Congress has refuted the charge vehemently. Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Siddharth Patel said on Sunday that Goswamy was a BJP worker,who had contested municipal election in Vadodara in 1995. “When Rahul Gandhi went to M S University campus during his Vadodara visit,connecting anyone in the crowd in photographs taken on such occasion with the Congress is not fair,” Patel said.

He also pointed out that the BJP was simply diverting attention of the people from the recent exposures of its leaders in Mehmedabad and Hansot. He claimed that the BJP had even fielded at least three bootleggers in Junagadh Municipal Corporation elections. “Subhash is neither a Congress worker nor an office-bearer,” he added.