3 min readPuneJun 10, 2026 09:54 AM IST
First published on: Jun 10, 2026 at 09:53 AM IST
The Maharashtra Criminal Investigation Department (CID), which is probing the hooch tragedy in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad in which 20 people were killed, said on Tuesday that it was probing the roles of 20 more suspects in the forward and back linkages of the racket in addition to the 11 who have been arrested till now.
The consumption of suspected methanol-laced illicit liquor has claimed 20 lives so far — 16 in the Phugewadi-Dapodi belt of Pimpri Chinchwad and four in Pune’s Hadapsar area. Separate cases have been registered at Dapodi and Hadapsar police stations under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Maharashtra Prohibition Act against those allegedly involved in the illicit liquor network.
The investigation cases have since been handed over to the Maharashtra CID. The key suspects arrested till now include main accused Yogesh Ramchandra Vhankade alias Sikandar Rathod and Radheshyam Prajapati, who produced the illicit. Probe revealed that accused Vhankhade bought bootleg liquor from Prajapati in Uruli Kanchan, and after mixing methanol further supplied it to different parts of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad. Based on the chain of evidence in the case, two accused Arun Jagdamb Choubey (59) and Abhishek Arun Choubey (34) who sold methanol to Vhankade have also been arrested.
“We have arrested 11 accused till now and they are in police custody till June 10. We are probing at least 20 more suspects in the forward and backward linkages of the racket. For the arrest and probe of these 20 suspects, five teams have been formed. The cell phones which have been seized from the accused have been sent for forensic analysis and also for creating clone copies for the probe.”
Earlier, the Pune Rural police suspended four constables who were allegedly in contact with Radheshyam Prajapati, a key accused who is allegedly to be the main supplier of the illicit liquor. Prior to that as many as nine police personnel from Pune city and Pimpri Chinchwad police, along with 13 state excise department officials in Pune, were suspended from active duty pending inquiry, for allegedly failing in their duties to control the illicit liquor trade. Suspension of four staffers from the Pune Rural police took the number of suspended government personnel to 26.
Probe has also revealed that prime accused Vhankade allegedly procured the poisonous methanol through an online business-to-business platform after claiming to the supplier that it was required for manufacturing perfumes. Investigators said the supplier, too, allegedly sold the chemical without insisting on the requisite documentation, GST number or carrying out adequate verification. CID has said that Vhankade used a fake Aadhar identity to procure methanol.
Probe revealed that prime accused Vhankade allegedly procured the poisonous methanol through an online business-to-business platform after claiming to the supplier that it was required for manufacturing perfumes. (Source: Express Photo) 
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