Mumbai: The sessions court on Wednesday sentenced four accused in the 2015 Malvani hooch tragedy to ten years in prison. A total of 106 people lost their lives and 75 suffered debilitating disabilities like loss of eyesight after drinking spurious alcohol. Of the four, Raju Tapkar, 59, Donald Patel, 49 and Francis D’mello, 54, were liquor vendors while Mansoor Khan, 35, received the chemicals in Mumbai from Gujarat and distributed them to liquor vendors.
The sessions had found them guilty on April 29 under the charge of culpable homicide which attracts a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. The court acquitted them from the murder charge.
On May 6, the judge heard prosecution and defence on the quantum of sentence. Special public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat made an emotional appeal and sought maximum punishment of life imprisonment, terming it a rarest of the rare case. “They have done it with thought and intention. The message has to be sent to society that such kind of act is not only severe but very heinous and will not be tolerated,” Gharat contended.
While the defence lawyers - Kainath Sayyed for Tapkar, Wahab Khan for Patel, Nitin Sejpal for D’mello and Diwakar Rai for Khan - argued for minimum punishment. The defence pleaded that the quartet be given an opportunity to live normal life and a chance to reform.
According to the prosecution, on June 18, 2015, Malwani police station received information about a person lying unconscious in the vicinity. The victims were mostly from Laxmi Nagar. A policeman rushed to the spot and transferred the person to Shatabdi Hospital.
The victim was later identified as Kanai Harijan. The police inquired with his employer, Marrimuttu Harijan, where it was revealed that on June 17, 2015, both Kanai and another employee, Fulchand Yadav, consumed alcohol at Tapkar’s den. Yadav too became ill and was hospitalised. Kanai subsequently died in the hospital.
Probe revealed that several other persons who consumed alcohol from dens of the same vicinity were being admitted in various hospitals. An FIR was lodged at Malwani police station. The probe was subsequently transferred to the crime branch. Further probe revealed the poisonous liquor was made from methyl alcohol. The police arrested Tapkar on June 19, 2015. He then disclosed the names of his suppliers.
