A police inspector leading an anti-liquor operation was killed in Dewas district early Monday after a truck allegedly carrying illicit liquor ran him over during an attempt to stop the vehicle on the Indore-Betul highway, police said.
Dilip Puri, the officer in charge of Khategaon police station, had reached the highway with his team at around 1.30am after receiving information about liquor smuggling, Dewas superintendent of police Aditya Mishra told The Times of India. Puri was leading five special teams formed for the operation.
The police team found the truck parked beside the highway divider. When Puri asked the driver to step out, the driver allegedly moved the vehicle onto the divider and attempted to drive away. The truck’s rear wheel ran over Puri, causing serious injuries and heavy blood loss, according to people at the scene.
Puri was taken to a hospital, where doctors attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation and other life-saving measures for nearly two hours. He could not be saved. His family later reached the town. He is survived by his wife, Kavita, and a son and a daughter.
After running over the officer, the driver allegedly drove the truck across the divider to the other side of the highway, abandoned it at Sandalpur and fled. Police shifted the vehicle to Sandalpur police station and began searching for the accused and others suspected of being involved in the smuggling operation.
The truck was found to contain 1,800 litres of Indian-made foreign liquor packed in 208 boxes, Mishra said. Police have formed a special investigation team to examine the case, identify the people involved in transporting the liquor and establish where the consignment was headed.
The death comes weeks after suspected poisonous liquor claimed lives in Chandana and neighbouring Binjana, about 7km from the Dewas district headquarters. Villagers had claimed that more than 13 people died in the two villages over a period of 20 days, while several others suffered damage to their eyesight. Following that episode, the Dewas collector and superintendent of police were replaced, and three excise officials, including district excise officer Basanti Bhuria, were suspended.
The special investigation team is now expected to continue efforts to identify the truck driver and trace the wider network connected to the seized liquor consignment, according to the police.
