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Karni Sena Leader Arrested in Spurious Liquor Network Case in Sagar, India
Confirmed
In Short: Ravi Lakhera, a key figure in an illicit liquor trade network, was arrested in a brief encounter with police near Hanuman Tong temple in Madhya Pradesh.
Ravi Lakhera, a 45-year-old with a reward of Rs. 20,000 on his head, was arrested following a brief encounter with police in a jungle near Hanuman Tong temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. The alleged kingpin of an interstate illicit liquor trade network received a bullet in his leg during the encounter, while his two associates managed to escape.
Lakhera, who owned multiple licensed liquor shops in Chhatarpur, was arrested for his alleged role in a spurious liquor network that claimed over two dozen lives. According to police, he worked with Tatarwara-based Karni Sena leader Chandrabhan alias Chandra Rajput and a liquor shop contractor Manish Lodhi.
The counterfeit liquor was supplied through the network of Lodhi at a much cheaper price than the original Sagar Gold and Mumbai Whisky brands. A country-made 12-bore pistol, cartridges, spent casings, and a motorcycle were recovered during the raid, while two alleged accomplices escaped in the darkness.
The suspected spurious-liquor tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district has claimed 15 lives, with several others falling ill after consuming liquor in villages including Nauraj, Patan, Ghooghra Khurd, and Bamura. Of the 33 accused named in the FIR, 18 have so far been arrested.
What's confirmed
- Ravi Lakhera, a 45-year-old with a reward of Rs. 20,000 on his head, was arrested following a brief encounter with police in a jungle near Hanuman Tong temple in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district. The alleged kingpin of an interstate illicit liquor trade network received a bullet in his leg during the encounter, while his two associates managed to escape.
- Lakhera, who owned multiple licensed liquor shops in Chhatarpur, was arrested for his alleged role in a spurious liquor network that claimed over two dozen lives. According to police, he worked with Tatarwara-based Karni Sena leader Chandrabhan alias Chandra Rajput and a liquor shop contractor Manish Lodhi.
- The counterfeit liquor was supplied through the network of Lodhi at a much cheaper price than the original Sagar Gold and Mumbai Whisky brands. A country-made 12-bore pistol, cartridges, spent casings, and a motorcycle were recovered during the raid, while two alleged accomplices escaped in the darkness.
- The suspected spurious-liquor tragedy in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district has claimed 15 lives, with several others falling ill after consuming liquor in villages including Nauraj, Patan, Ghooghra Khurd, and Bamura. Of the 33 accused named in the FIR, 18 have so far been arrested.
What's still developing
- Police had seized a spurious liquor manufacturing facility in the agricultural plot of Rajput.
- “Upon questioning the accused, it was revealed that the Divisional President of Karni Sena, Chandrabhan Singh, his associate Manish Lodhi, and a distant relative named Shivanjay had collaborated to produce the liquor using spirit brought to a maize field,” Sujaniya said.
- “When questioned about the source of the spirit, it emerged that Manish Lodhi — who had procured the materials — worked with an associate named Ravi Lakhera, a known history-sheeter and smuggler, to source and manufacture the liquor,” said a senior police officer.
- Police sources say he was familiar with liquor manufacturing and with procuring the materials required for it.
- The police say the alleged network did not simply disappear once the first deaths were reported.
- “After the deaths started happening, the racket’s operatives started destroying the remaining spurious liquor, but the police, through timely raids, managed to seize a significant portion of the spurious liquor,” the officer said.
- He was last arrested on May four this year by the police in Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh.
- Sagar (MP): Ten persons died and some others fell ill after consuming spurious liquor in Madhya Pradesh's Sagar district on Sunday, an official said, days after a similar tragedy in neighbouring Gujarat.