Main accused in Madhya Pradesh hooch tragedy held after encounter in Sagar: Police

One of the main accused in the Madhya Pradesh spurious liquor case that has claimed 16 lives was captured early Friday (September 11, 2026) after an encounter with police in the State’s Sagar district, an official said.

Ravi Lakhera (45) sustained a bullet injury to his leg, while two of his accomplices, who were travelling with him on a motorcycle, managed to flee, said Additional Superintendent of Police Jayveer Bahdoriya.

The official said police intercepted Mr. Lakhera in the Baraytha forest, about 40 k.m. from the district headquarters, triggering an exchange of fire.

A bullet hit his leg, and he was taken to a hospital in Banda in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh for treatment, Mr. Bahdoriya told PTI over the phone.

Police sources said Mr. Lakhera is in a stable condition.

Mr. Lakhera is alleged to have been involved in manufacturing spurious liquor along with licensed liquor contractor Manish Lodhi, alias Yashwant Singh Lodhi, which was then distributed through peddlers in Sagar district.

The spurious liquor left 16 dead, while 32 others are undergoing treatment at different hospitals. Of the 30 persons shown as accused, 16 have been arrested and one detained.

Mr. Lakhera, a resident of Gangapuram Colony in Uttar Pradesh’s Lalitpur, which shares a substantial boundary with Sagar district, has around 25 criminal cases registered against him in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere, mostly under the Excise Act, police sources said. He originally hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Mahoba district, where his parents live.

He was also wanted in a case registered at Baheriya police station in Sagar in 2025 in connection with illegal liquor brewing, the sources said.

Mr. Lakhera is allegedly well-versed in liquor manufacturing and procuring materials used in its production and operated a team involved in making spurious liquor, they said.

While Chief Minister Mohan Yadav has ordered a judicial inquiry into the hooch deaths, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has accused the Madhya Pradesh government of shielding the liquor mafia and questioned the earlier claim by Sagar superintendent of police that the spurious liquor was supplied from Lalitpur.