Indore-based businessman Aman Kasliwal, 27, son of Madhya Pradesh Congress spokesperson Anand Jain Kasliwal, has been arrested for allegedly supplying a chemical to Ajay Rathore, who is accused of manufacturing and distributing spurious liquor in Dewas district, IANS reported on Thursday, October 29. Police have registered an FIR against Aman Kasliwal under the Excise Act.
Source: IANS via hi INDiA
According to police, the Kasliwal family firm supplied 220 litres of paint thinner to a customer on October 1, and the substance was listed in the invoice and the goods consignment receipt. Investigators allege the chemical was used by Rathore and his associate Govind in making illicit liquor. Police said the exact identity of the chemical supplied will be established only after laboratory tests. An Indore warehouse linked to the alleged supply was sealed earlier in the probe, regional channel Bansal News reported.
Source: Nation Press
Reacting to the arrest, Anand Kasliwal alleged his son was being framed and argued that a supplier cannot be held responsible for the misuse of goods by a buyer. He said the family was unaware that the accused were allegedly using any chemical to manufacture spurious liquor, and asked: if a person takes goods from an establishment and misuses them, can the seller be held legally responsible for it?
State minister Vishwas Sarang has alleged that Rathore and Govind told investigators they purchased thinner from Aman Kasliwal. These remain allegations under investigation, and no guilt has been established in court.
The arrest is the latest development in the Dewas case, in which police earlier arrested 10 people — including, they alleged, a man who learnt a liquor recipe using AI — and a five-member panel was formed to examine deaths reported in Chandana and Binjana villages between September 27 and October 16. The district administration had earlier disputed that the deaths were caused by poisonous liquor, saying post-mortem and chemical tests had not established that; the panel's findings are awaited.