Chandigarh: Even as the toll in the suspected spurious liquor tragedy in a village of Haryana’s Yamunanagar district was said to have swelled to 18 on Monday, the state Congress on Sunday suspended a local leader of the district for his alleged involvement in the said case.

A party statement said that the Udai Bhan, president state Congress had suspended Mange Ram Marupur, Pradesh Congress Committee delegate, Yamunanagar (urban) pending enquiry against him due to his alleged involvement in the spurious liquor case in Yamunanagar district with immediate effect. It may be recalled that accused Mange Ram had already been arrested in the case.

Meanwhile, with the death of Ramesh and Sushil, residents of village Mandebari on Sunday, the toll in the case had jumped to 18. According to police Ramesh who was also accused of selling the spurious liquor, had consumed the spurious liquor himself and had been admitted to a hospital in Chandigarh.

Two more held in connection with the case

Also, with the arrest of two more accused namely Surinder and Raj Kumar, residents of village Saran, the number of the total arrested accused had risen to 12 on Monday.

It may be recalled that the incident came to light on November 8 when several people of the Mandebari and nearby villages, started vomiting and falling unconscious within hours of consuming some “illegally manufactured liquor’’ . Five of them were reported to have died and cremated without any post-mortem on the first day itself, while some other persons were admitted in nearby private hospitals.

The police held that they had unearthed an illegal liquor manufacturing unit located in village Dhanaura in Ambala district and recovered over boxes of liquor bottles.

Meanwhile, former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also leader of opposition (LoP) had also lashed out at the ruling BJP-Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) government alleging that it was the failure of the ruling government to have a check on such crimes that the spurious liquor tragedy had claimed several lives.

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