Main accused in Kushinagar hooch tragedy arrested

The main accused in the hooch tragedy in neighbouring Kushinagar district, which left nine people dead, has been arrested in Bhilwara district of Rajasthan, police said.

The accused, Harendra Yadav, is a native of Bihar and was arrested Wednesday evening. He is likely to be brought to Kushinagar on Friday, Kushinagar SP RN Mishra said.

As many as nine people died last week after consuming spurious liquor in an area under the Tarya Sujan police station limits.

After registering a case against unidentified people on February 8, police had arrested two people, Rajendra Jaiswal and Hari Nishadand, the SP said.

During interrogation of the duo, it surfaced that one Harendra Yadav of Gopalganj, Bihar who is the main accused has escaped soon after the incident.

Police traced Yadav's location using his mobile phone. He was arrested in Rajasthan's Bhilwara, the SP said.

During preliminary investigation, Yadav's connections with a political party in Bihar was found. Around 12 criminal cases are registered against him in several districts of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, police said.

In a separate case, over 70 people died in a hooch tragedy in two adjoining districts of Haridwar in Uttarakhand and Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh last week.