Etah hooch tragedy: UP BJP forms 7-member panel

AGRA: With death toll continuing to rise, state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya on Monday formed a seven-member committee to conduct an independent probe into the hooch tragedy in the Etah district, which killed over 30 men. Around 100 men were admitted in the government hospital.
The report has to be submitted in 24 hours to the state BJP president, who will further take action based on the findings of committee.
The committee - comprising ex-Union minister Ramshankar Katheria, MPs of Etah (Rajveer Singh), Farrukhabad (Mukesh Rajput), Kanpur dehat (Devendra Singh Bhole), Etawah (Ashok Kumar Doharey), Agra MLA Jagan Prasad Garg and UP BJP state general secretary Pankaj Singh - visited several homes of hooch victims in Aliganj and met their families.
Speaking to TOI, Maurya said, “The objective of the committee is to trace the main culprits responsible for this immense tragedy, which had destroyed so many families. Since the Samajwadi Party came to power, over 300 men have lost their lives in the state due to the consumption of spurious country-made liquor sold illegally.”
“It’s astonishing to know that CM Akhilesh Yadav who looks after home and excise department has failed to stop the deaths of UP residents killed by hooch. He should resign from his post,” he said.
Meanwhile, the seven member committee met the victims' families and raised demand for Rs 11 lakh as compensation and demanded immediate removal of DM and SSP of Etah.

Speaking to TOI, Mukesh Rajput, MP of Farrukhabad, accused local SP MLA Rameshwar Singh Yadav of the involvement in the case and said, “The report will have a case study of direct involvement of local MLA, who openly runs business nexus of hooch. His control over Aliganj is such that no one has guts to act against him.”

Pankaj Singh general secretary of BJP UP said, “A judicial probe should be conducted in the incident, and stringent action should be taken against DM Ajay Yadav and SSP Ajai Shankar Rai for being negligent on the hooch business nexus.”
Meanwhile, CMO Etah, Ramesh Chandra Pandey, confirmed to TOI, about 27 deaths in Aliganj area of Etah and six deaths in Farrukhabad. "Till now 95 men have been admitted in Saifai of which three are highly critical. They have been kept on ventilators as they are not able to breath," he said.
Source claimed, death toll will rise in next few days.