5 excise staff to be suspended

Assistant Commissioner of Enforcement (Prohibition and Excise) A.V.S. Murthy and five other Excise officials are being placed under suspension for alleged dereliction of duty in curbing the manufacture and sale of illicit liquor, which led to the death of 13 persons in Amalapuram division in the district in the last couple of days. This was stated by Minister for Panchayat Raj Botcha Satyanarayana, who is in-charge of East Godavari district.

Excise Superintendent (Amalapuram) K. Madhusudana Rao, Assistant Excise Superintendent M.V.S.S.N. Murthy, Circle Inspector Ajay Kumar Singh and Sub-Inspector S. Veerabhadra Rao are among those being suspended. Action is sought to be taken against excise CI Ajay Kumar Singh’s predecessor S.K.D.V. Prasad for failure in discharging the duties properly.

Meanwhile, the condition of nine persons undergoing treatment at the Government General Hospital (GGH) here is stated to be critical. In all, about 220 persons are being taken care of at the GGH. The blood samples of all of them are being sent to the State Forensic Science Laboratory at Hyderabad for analysis. Preliminary investigation indicated the presence of methyl alcohol in the liquor that was illicitly distilled and sold in and around Ambajipeta.

The prime accused P Ramakrishna and his accomplices Rayudu Ravi, Veerababu, Raghava and Ramesh were arrested and charges of murder filed against them in addition to action being taken under the Preventive Detention Act.

The Minister further added that a door–to–door survey of all villages in Amalapuram and Ambajipeta mandals has been ordered to ensure that no person who might have consumed the ID liquor is left to fend for himself. Raids were being conducted throughout the district to prevent recurrence of such incidents.