MULTAN, Sept 5: Death toll in the tainted liquor case in Multan and Muzaffargarh districts reportedly rose to 29 on Sunday. Murtaza and Waheed Vicky were reported dead in Multan allegedly due to the intake of fatal liquor
while deaths of Hasnain, Mukhtar Hussain and Saeed were reported owing to the same cause from Jatoi, Gujrat and Shah Jamal areas of Muzaffargarh.
On Saturday, the deaths of about 24 people were reported in the two districts within 24 hours of liquor intake. According to the latest figures, 15 people had fallen victim in Multan while 14 in Muzaffargarh.
Muhammad Akram of Pul Shawala in Multan and Mureed Hussain and Imran of Shah Jamal in Muzaffargarh were being treated at the Nishter Hospital against the consequences of the drinking tainted liquor.
Meanwhile, the Multan police claimed to have arrested bootlegger Nazar alias Naja belonging to Cha Boharrwala area. The local Jaleelabad police had registered a case under sections 322 (causing grievous hurt) PPC and 7-ATA (1997) against Naja on Saturday on the report of two survivors of the lethal liquor, Aslam and Qayyum.
The police also got conducted postmortem on the bodies of Nazar and Saddiq on Sunday. They were said to be the first causalities of the fatal liquor. Belonging to Khatkana area of Multan, Nazar and Saddiq were received dead at the Nishter Hospital. Doctors at the hospital said that the post-mortem of the victims initially received alive needed not to be carried out because their blood and urine samples could serve the purpose to ascertain the cause of death.
It was learnt that the Kot Addu police had also registered a case against alleged bootleggers Iqbal, Bilal Mustafa and Tahir. A couple of years ago, local police had also registered a case under section 322 PPC against a local gang notorious for running a racket of bootlegging when about 40 people were reported dead within a short span of seven days due to the intake of lethal liquor.
But, the influential gang in league with its alleged patron in the police department had managed to strike deals with the families of the victims as the bereaved families had submitted affidavits in the court hearing the matter that the deaths were caused due to some natural reasons.
A local mid-ranking police official was said to be instrumental in rescuing the bootleggers and sources close to the official said that he often boasted that his intervention had enabled the families of the victims to get some monetary compensation.
The same official has been given an 'important' assignment by the police authorities to take care of the latest incident of deaths being caused by the poisonous liquor. The accused in the previous tragedy inflicted by the poisonous liquor were released on bail when no one was inclined to pursue the case.
