India, Jan. 21 -- Aligarh District Court on Tuesday sentenced a key accused in the 2021 hooch tragedy that claimed more than 100 lives, to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment. And imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. Additional District Judge Amit Kumar Tiwari convicted Pramod Gupta under sections 273 (sale of noxious food or drink), 471 (using forged document as genuine) and 420 (cheating) of the Indian Penal Code, for supplying the toxic chemical methanol to manufacturers of spurious liquor, which led to 106 deaths across several villages and towns of Aligarh district during May-June 2021.

The hooch tragedy, which struck while the state was reeling under the Covid-19 pandemic, disproportionately affected the poor and marginalised, according to l...