Gopalganj court refuses bail to liquor tragedy accused

Alok Mishra

Gopalganj: The court of ADJ-VI, Gopalganj, on January 17 rejected the bail petition of Grahan Pasi, an accused in the Khajurbanni liquor tragedy and languishing in jail. The court pronounced the judgment after hearing the arguments of lawyers of the both sides.

Arguing in the court, defencse lawyer Ved Prakash Tiwary said that his client Grahan Pasi was admitted to a hospital at Noida on August 15-16, 2016, and was made accused in the case by the local police to save the liquor mafias. He 0said neither liquor was recovered from his house nor anybody was present at the house when the incident took place. Grahan had himself surrendered before the court, he argued.However, Special Public Prosecutor of Excise Department Ravi Srivastava said that several people lost their lives after consuming the liquor manufactured by the accused and others.

The kingpin of the illegal trader Rupesh Shukla alias Pandit is still absconding. Pandit’s house at village Jalalpur in Siwan district had been attached while separate police teams have been carrying out raids to arrest him. It may be mentioned here that over 19 persons had died after consuming liquor at Khajurbanni under Town police station in Gopalganj on August 15-16, 2016. Two separate FIRs were lodged with the police station concerned. Altogether 15 persons are in judicial custody while three accused are still at large.