Meerut: In a significant judgment against illicit liquor adulteration, a court in Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district has sentenced five men to life imprisonment for mixing country liquor with urea and selling it at inflated prices during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. The verdict was delivered by Additional District and Sessions Judge Mirza Zeenat, who convicted Bholi (50) and Badal, Suraj, Sachin and Dabbu Jaiswar, all in their mid-30s, under Sections 272 and 273 of the Indian Penal Code, which deal with adulteration of food or drink intended for sale. The court also imposed a fine of ₹52,000 on each convict.
The case dates back to May 13, 2021, when police conducted a raid on a makeshift tin shed near Ashirwad Dairy in Pehalwan Pir following a tip-off about illegal liquor adulteration activities. Bholi was arrested at the spot, while the other four accused initially managed to escape. During the raid, police recovered 345 quarter bottles of liquor, three litres of adulterated alcohol, one kilogram of urea, and equipment used for refilling and packaging liquor bottles.
According to investigators, Bholi confessed during interrogation that the gang had been mixing cheap country liquor with urea to increase its potency and then selling it at higher prices during the lockdown restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 outbreak. The four absconding accomplices were subsequently arrested, and the case proceeded to trial.
During the four-year trial, the prosecution examined four key witnesses and presented forensic evidence confirming the presence of chemical adulteration in the seized liquor samples. The forensic findings played a crucial role in securing the conviction of all five accused.
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Additional District Government Counsel Sandeep Singh said the stringent punishment sends a strong message against spurious liquor syndicates and illicit liquor adulteration networks operating in Uttar Pradesh. He noted that the offence was particularly grave because it was committed during the Covid-19 pandemic, a period when public health was already under severe strain. Singh said the life sentence would act as a strong deterrent against the manufacture and sale of adulterated liquor and help create fear among those involved in illegal liquor rackets that endanger consumers’ lives.
The judgment is being viewed as one of the strictest punishments awarded in a liquor adulteration case in Uttar Pradesh, underscoring the judiciary’s tough stance on offences involving spurious country liquor, chemical adulteration and public health risks.
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