A 37-year-old proclaimed offender has been arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police for allegedly supplying spurious liquor in the Capital leading to death of 26 people earlier this year.
Sukhbir alias Suku, a resident of Vishnu Garden, had been absconding since spurious liquor led to hospitalisation and death of several people in the Dabri, Khayala and Rajouri Garden areas of the Capital in March.
His name had first come up during interrogation of one Seema, a resident of Tagore Garden, who was arrested in Khayala in connection with the hooch tragedy. Seema purportedly told the police that she had procured the spurious liquor from Suku. It was revealed during interrogation of several other accused in the case that the spurious liquor that had led to the tragedy in West Delhi and South-West Delhi was manufactured in Gurgaon and supplied by Suku.
The police conducted raids in Ahmedabad, Moradabad, Ajmer and Agra in search of Suku, but he continued to change his hideouts and evade arrest. He was then declared a proclaimed offender and his property was attached. On August 25, Suku surrendered in a local court in Dwarka. He was formally arrested on August 31 and taken on three days police remand.
Suku, a notorious bootlegger of the Tilak Nagar area, was earlier involved in eight criminal cases, the police said. Suku took to supplying illicit liquor after he came in contact with one Pawan, who manufactured spurious liquor in Gurgaon. To earn quick money, the two along with their accomplices manufactured and supplied spurious liquor of “Shokeen” brand, which was in great demand in parts of the Capital, the police said.
