Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav held a high-level meeting with senior police officials at his residence in Bhopal on Tuesday evening, November 3, and decided to launch a statewide crackdown on illegal liquor, drug trafficking and organised crime, ANI reported. He directed officials to dismantle the illegal liquor network operating across five districts and ordered simultaneous operations across the state to prevent the transportation and storage of illegal liquor.

Source: ANI via DevDiscourse

The meeting followed the death of Dilip Puri, the in-charge of Khategaon police station in Dewas district, who was run over early on Monday when he and a police team tried to intercept a truck allegedly transporting illicit liquor on a highway in Dewas district; a police constable was also injured. Officials said the truck was carrying more than 1,800 litres of liquor hidden in a specially constructed compartment, Nation Press reported. Police have arrested three persons so far, including the alleged kingpin of the smuggling network and the truck owner, and multiple teams are conducting raids against a network with suspected links across Harda, Dewas, Indore and other districts, the report said.

Source: Nation Press

Yadav instructed officials to prepare an effective action plan in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resolve to take stringent action against drug mafias by 2029, saying Madhya Pradesh would act decisively against drugs and organised crime, ANI reported. He also directed the Director General of Police and senior officials to review the entire Dewas case and prepare a concrete plan to prevent a recurrence, and asked police to maintain heightened vigilance during the upcoming Diwali festivities against crimes involving illegal weapons, explosives, drugs and liquor.

ANI also reported that the main accused in the Dewas case, Rahul Jaiswal, had been taken into custody, the truck had been seized, another accused, Keral Singh, had been arrested, and the Assistant District Officer of the district from where the liquor was dispatched, Amar Singh Baghel, had been directed to be removed from his post with immediate effect. The allegations remain under investigation and no court has determined guilt.

The crackdown order builds on the government's earlier response to Puri's killing: on Monday, November 2, Yadav had announced financial assistance of Rs 1 crore for the officer's family and a compassionate appointment as Sub-Inspector for his wife, and sent a Special Director General of Police to Dewas to supervise the investigation, as Awaaz Punjab reported earlier.