MULTAN, Nov 21: The death of some people allegedly due to the consumption of tainted liquor has woken up police to launch a crackdown against bootleggers in various parts of the city. There are reports that around a dozen people, most of them labourers, had died on Sunday in the city after consuming some substandard liquor.

However, the police contradicted the number of deaths reported on this account in the press. A police handout put the death toll at four. They were identified as Muhammad Akmal, Muhammad Saeed, Muhammad Islam and Abdul Rehman alias Mani.

According to police, they took ‘kuppi’ at a marriage party held in the precinct of the Delhi Gate police station and later died. A raiding party has been formed with DSP (Haram Gate) Karamatullah Malik as its head to round up the bootleggers.

The police also registered a case on the report of Jaffar Hussain, the brother of deceased Akmal, against Khalil. But the accused could not be arrested till the filing of this report. The raiding party however rounded up alleged bootleggers Munawwar Hussain alias Bao Shikari and Muhammad Lateef alias Loti after recovering a sizable quantity of liquor form their hideouts.

Meanwhile, the police have sent to Lahore a bottle of liquor recovered from the home of deceased Akmal for the laboratory examination.

A police official, SI Zafar Imtiaz, has also been suspended for showing negligence in curbing the menace of liquor sale.

Sources in the police department say that a list of some 11 bootleggers has been prepared to bring them to book.

It may be added here that with the advent of winter the demand for liquor soars up. More than 40 people had lost their lives last year due to the intake of tainted liquor in Multan city while a couple of years prior to this incident around 30 people had fallen prey.