Main accused in MP hooch tragedy held after encounter in Sagar: Police

Sagar , One of the main accused in the Madhya Pradesh spurious liquor case that has claimed 16 lives was captured early Friday after an encounter with police in the state’s Sagar drict, an official said.Main accused in MP hooch tragedy held after encounter in Sagar: PoliceRavi Lakhera sustained a bullet injury to his leg, while two of his accomplices, who were travelling with him on a motorcycle, managed to flee, said Additional Superintendent of Police Jayveer Bahdoriya.The official said police intercepted Lakhera in the Baraytha forest, about 40 km from the drict headquarters, triggering an exchange of fire.A bullet hit his leg, and he was taken to a hospital in Banda in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh for treatment, Bahdoriya told PTI over the phone.Police sources said Lakhera is in a stable condition.Lakhera is alleged to have been involved in manufacturing spurious liquor along with licensed liquor contractor Manish Lodhi, alias Yashwant Singh Lodhi, which was then dributed through peddlers in Sagar drict.The spurious liquor left 16 dead, while 32 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of the 30 persons shown as accused, 16 have been arrested and one detained.Lakhera, a resident of Gangapuram Colony in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur, which shares a substantial boundary with Sagar drict, has around 25 criminal cases regered against him in MP, UP and elsewhere, mostly under the Excise Act, police sources said. He originally hails from UP’s Mahoba drict, where his parents live.He was also wanted in a case regered at Baheriya police station in Sagar in 2025 in connection with illegal liquor brewing, the sources said.Lakhera is allegedly well-versed in liquor manufacturing and procuring materials used in its production and operated a team involved in making spurious liquor, they said.While Chief Miner Mohan Yadav has ordered a judicial inquiry into the hooch deaths, the Commun Party of India has accused the MP government of shielding the liquor mafia and questioned the earlier claim Sagar superintendent of police that the spurious liquor was supplied from Lalitpur.This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.