Main accused in Mumbai toxic alcohol tragedy Mansur Latif Shaikh, was arrested today
The main accused in Mumbai toxic alcohol tragedy, which has cost 102 lives so far, was arrested from Delhi this afternoon. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that he wants the guilty to be given the harshest possible punishment.
"Want to see culprits hanged and have asked authorities to conduct probe on the same lines," Mr Fadnavis said.
Mansur Latif Shaikh alias Atiq, who was arrested from north-east Delhi's Seelampur, used to supply methanol from Gujarat, said police sources. Atiq has been on the run since June 17, when the tragedy started unfolding in Malvani colony in Mumbai's western suburbs. Caught in a joint operation by Delhi and Mumbai Police, he is now being taken back to Mumbai.
Earlier, the Maharashtra government had set up a high level committee under their top bureaucrat for investigating the matter. Maharashtra chief secretary Swadheen Kshatriya, will head the probe into the incident that took place.
The report has to be submitted within three months.
The government has proposed to change the colour of methanol to help distinguish it from other forms of industrial alcohol. Highly toxic to humans, Methanol is added to illicit liquor to increase its alcohol content. Consumption of as little as 10ml of it can result in blindness, and 30ml or more is usually fatal.
After the tragedy, the police have raided over 150 locations where hooch is illegally brewed and sold to gullible consumers. Four officials of the state excise department and eight police officers have been suspended in the case after it was alleged that police vigilance could have averted the tragedy.
The opposition has taken on the state government for failing to stop the sale of toxic liquor. "I expect both Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Excise Minister Eknath Khadse to tender their resignations," Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, the leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, told NDTV.