Nagaland DGP Rupin Sharma flags challenges tracing suspected spurious liquor as methanol tests await quantitative confirmation in Mokokchung, Tuensang
KOHIMA — Director General of Police (DGP) Rupin Sharma on Tuesday pointed to the difficulties in tracing the source of suspected spurious liquor linked to deaths in Mokokchung and Tuensang districts in recent weeks. At least nine people have died in Mokokchung and 11 in Tuensang in connection with the suspected spurious liquor incidents.
Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a programme in Kohima, Sharma said it was apparent that the liquor was coming from outside Nagaland, as the state does not have any manufacturing facility. However, determining where it was coming from remained a challenge.
“There is no manufacturing taking place (in Nagaland). But wherever the manufacturing is taking place, in those jurisdictions, it is not illegal. So we cannot go back to Assam or to any other place to catch people who are manufacturing liquor or transporting liquor within those jurisdictions. So that makes things a bit difficult for us,” he said.
Sharma said it was also important to recognise that there was a market for liquor consumption in Nagaland.
Related: Suspected spurious liquor came from neighbouring state, says Mokokchung police
Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), Dimapur, tests on suspected spurious liquor samples from the two districts confirmed the presence of methanol.
However, Sharma said the report was only qualitative and was not yet complete.
He explained that the presence of methanol alone did not establish whether the level exceeded the permissible limit. Samples from both cases have been sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Guwahati, for quantitative analysis, the results of which are awaited.
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The quantitative report is expected to establish the concentration of methanol in the samples and whether it was beyond the permissible limit.
Sharma also said police had asked the Health and Family Welfare department and doctors across the state to report any suspicious deaths that could potentially be linked to spurious liquor, poisoning or alcohol abuse.
In Tuensang, he said, the only person arrested on suspicion had apparently been released. He explained that tracing the source had become difficult because the family, or the place, from which the liquor was reportedly purchased had been affected by the deaths.
“The backward linkage is a bit difficult in Tuensang,” he said.
Sharma assured that police would intensify efforts to trace the source and supply chain, while appealing to the public to cooperate by providing information about liquor joints so that appropriate action could be taken.
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