12 deaths, a trail to UP: How Madhya Pradesh’s ‘fake liquor’ network operated across the border

Sagar SP Anurag Sujaniya said the preliminary investigation had identified a Lalitpur-based gang that had previously faced legal action for allegedly manufacturing spurious liquor and distributing it in Madhya Pradesh. “They manufacture spurious liquor mimicking Madhya Pradesh brands and distribute it here,” Sujaniya said, adding that it was “highly likely” that the supply in the Sagar tragedy originated from that source.

Police are now trying to identify the people between the alleged manufacturer and the victims. About 10 people were initially detained for questioning as investigators traced the liquor backwards from the villages where people fell ill.
The investigation has also begun to expose how such a network can operate without the person buying the bottle necessarily knowing that anything is wrong. According to investigators, the Excise Department may have been deceived due to the packaging of the bottle.

“It’s difficult to crack down on them at times since they run a small operation in concealed locations,” said a senior police officer.

According to a senior police officer who has routinely cracked down on counterfeit liquor, the gangs operate in Lalitpur in the following way.

“In one case, when we cracked down on a hideout, we found the counterfeit liquor was being made in Uttar Pradesh, packed in bottles carrying the labels, caps and even QR codes of established brands and then sent into Madhya Pradesh, where it was allegedly sold through liquor outlets and roadside establishments,” the officer said.
The choice of Lalitpur in Bundelkhand was significant because the alleged manufacturers were operating close to the market they intended to supply.

“Rather than moving the liquor over a long distance inside Madhya Pradesh, the network could manufacture it in a neighbouring district of Uttar Pradesh and then bring it across the state boundary in relatively small consignments. These consignments are sometimes delivered in luxury cars to evade detection… the operation could have been running for months before it was detected,” the officer said.

Price is another part of that equation. Liquor is cheaper in Uttar Pradesh than in Madhya Pradesh, according to people familiar with the probe, giving sellers an established reason to bring liquor across the border. However, the investigators acknowledged that if the suspected liquor was manufactured outside the state, brought across the border, passed through local hands and ultimately sold by an agent connected to a licensed outlet, there were “several points at which it could theoretically have been detected.”

That inquiry has already produced action. Three Excise officials and two police personnel have been suspended, while the Area Deputy Commissioner has been attached to headquarters. Police have registered three FIRs, named 30 accused and arrested 14 of them by Monday morning.

The crackdown is now spreading through the villages as investigators try to find both the remaining accused and any stock that may still be in circulation. Police and Excise teams are conducting raids, while revenue officials and village representatives are going door to door to identify people who may still have bottles of the suspected liquor.

Twelve died and several were hospitalised after allegedly consuming illicit liquor in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district Saturday.

Police said the victims were primarily from Nauraj and Gogra villages in the Banda police station area.