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Liquor baron held in Orissa

M I Khan in Bhubaneswar

Orissa crime branch police arrested Surendranath Das alias Belu, liquor baron and kingpin of the 1992 Cuttack illicit liquor tragedy that claimed over 200 lives, on charges of illegal trading in Indian-made foreign liquor on Saturday.

According to police sources in Cuttack, he was arrested by a special team of crime branch officials led by the superintendent of police M N Rao.

Belu was wanted for the illegal transportation of India-made foreign liquor from Madhya Pradesh to Cuttack on May 23, 1999. The crime branch took up the case in July.

Additional director general of police, crime branch, Janardan Singh, told rediff.com that Belu was arrested following the seizure of a truck carrying 538 cartons of illicit liquor. The Cuttack-bound truck displayed a fake registration number.

Belu was nabbed when he tried to get the truck released by offering a bribe. Many forged documents were seized from him. Singh said Belu's residence was also raided.

Crime branch sources said Belu was wanted in 12 criminal cases.

The Behra Commission, which probed the Cuttack illicit liquor tragedy, had implicated Belu, some former ministers and members of the then Janata Dal government headed by the late Biju Patnaik.

Most of these leaders are now part of the ruling Biju Janata Dal.

Belu had disappeared following the tragedy and evaded the police net for nearly a month. Later, he offered to surrender in Calcutta in May 1992 on three conditions. Police arrested him and later released him on bail as the crime branch did not file a charge-sheet against him within 90 days.

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