India, May 19 -- While sentencing the four convicts in the 2015 Malwani hooch tragedy, in which 106 persons lost their lives and several others were blinded, the sessions court expressed concern over the mushrooming of illicit liquor dens and the lack of state control over the same. The court observed that although the deaths took place due to consumption of liquor containing methyl alcohol, there was no evidence to prove intentional use of the chemical or that it was a poison, as defined in the Poisons Act, 1919.

The 241-page judgement sentencing bootleggers Raju Tapkar aka Raju Langda and Donald Patel, country liquor distributor Francis Thomas D'mello and the prime hooch supplier Mansur Khan aka Atiq aka Rahul Bhai to ten years rigorou...