Chandigarh, May 15 -- A local court had in July 2024 acquitted all the accused in the much-hyped 2020 Rajpura illicit liquor factory case, citing grave discrepancies in the investigation and failure of the prosecution to establish guilt beyond reasonable doubt. The accused-Dipesh Grover, Karaj Singh, Gurpreet Singh, Gurdeep Singh, Manoj Kumar, Hardeep Singh alias Bachi, and Sachin-had been charged under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Punjab Excise Act for allegedly operating an illicit liquor bottling plant using smuggled Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) and using counterfeit labels. Two FIRs were registered on December 8, 2020, under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 473, 120B of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 61 of the Excise Act at the police station city, Rajpura. The FIR said that the accused procured Extra Neutral Alcohol (ENA) through tankers and were preparing illicit liquor at a godown on Rajpura bypass. "During the raid, it was found that two persons were transferring the ENA from a tanker into the drums. A total of 5,000 litres of ENA was seized along with 15 boxes containing 180 plastic bottles of country-made liquor labels of Punjab Rasila Santra a brand of NV Distillers and Breweries Limited," the FIR added. Another FIR was filed on May 14, 2020, under Sections 420, 465, 468, 471, 120B, 188, 269 of the IPC and Section 61 of the Excise Act and Section 10 of the Disaster Management Act at police station, Shambhu. The accused were acquitted on July 30, 2024, in both the FIRs registered against them. Initially, the prosecution agency termed the case "not fit to file an appeal.' However, after the Ghanaur MLA brought it to the notice of chief minister Bhagwant Mann on January 22, this year, the officials were directed to file an appeal in the higher court. Consequent to CM's intervention, an appeal was filed on February 1 in the court of additional session judge, Patiala. However, during the four-year-long trial, the court found serious contradictions in the testimonies of the key prosecution witnesses. ASI Kulwinder Singh, Jaswinderjit Singh Bedi (excise officer), and investigation officer SI Satinder Pal Singh, all admitted that no recovery was made directly from any of the accused at the time of the raid. The FIR, however, stated that 5,000 litres of pilfered ENA was found on the premises of a factory. Moreover, the prosecution also failed to establish the authenticity of the allegedly forged labels from "NV Distilleries and Breweries." The court noted that no official from Rajpura-based NV Distilleries was examined, nor were original labels or records from their printing press produced to verify the forgery claim. Even the prosecution failed to establish the origin of the seized ENA. According to police, the 20,000 litres of ENA meant for Mohan Meakin Limited was pilfered by the accused. But Akashdeep Sharma, manager of Mohan Meakin Ltd, stated in court that he had no personal knowledge of the events. He also couldn't identify the driver or confirm any connection to the accused. "From the above-discussed statements of the prosecution witnesses, the court is of the considered opinion that the prosecution has failed to discharge its initial onus," the court observed. "The guilt of the accused is not proved beyond reasonable doubt. They are accordingly acquitted," it further said. A senior police official, who didn't wish to be named, said that it was a case where everything was seized and shown to the media yet the police couldn't get a conviction. "It's time that the government act against the erring officials of the prosecution department and police officers who failed to establish the case. After a fresh hooch tragedy in Amritsar, where over 23 lives were lost over two days due to toxic liquor, the failure to secure prosecution isn't good for the state's image," the officer, quoted above said....