‘Pavva’ a deadly potion in Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections

LUCKNOW: In fiercely contested panchayat elections, ‘pavva’ (250 ml bottle of desi liquor) is used not only to allure the rural electorate, but also to eliminate rivals. Joint probe by the police and excise department shows that it has become a lethal weapon used by unscrupulous candidates to silence the voice raised against them.
Talking to TOI, additional chief secretary, excise, Sanjay R Bhoosreddy said that ‘pavvas’ are now being used as a potent weapon to eliminate rivals.He said that candidates throw late night parties in villages in which friends and rivals both are invited. Though these parties are said to be organised to evolve a consensus candidate, most of the time the motive is not as simple. “If some agreement is reached at a consensus candidate then the party goes on smoothly. But if the desired results are not met then the party turns deadly. Poisonous substance is mixed in the country liquor and offered to rivals to finish them off,” he said, adding that this modus operandi was adopted in several hooch tragedy cases which were jointly investigated by police and the excise department.
“The ploy was to remove rivals from the electoral arena and also escape the murder charge,” Bhoosreddy said and added that ‘a little probe in one such case revealed that genuine ‘pavvas’ were distributed at a party which was attended by around 50-100 people. However, the matter turned suspicious when only a few perished after consuming the liquor and nothing happened to others. A further probe revealed that only those had died who had refused to follow diktats of the host," Bhoosreddy said, adding that later the police came to know that poisonous substance was injected in bottles of genuine factory-made liquor and that bottles were offered to those who were not ready to toe the line.
In Kataria village under Udaipur police station in Pratapgarh district on March 31, four persons died and three others took seriously ill after consuming ‘desi’ liquor at a party attended by scores of villagers. The party was attended by one Sunil Kumar Singh alias Dabbu Singh and Neeraj Singh, both vying for the pradhan’s post of the same village. Neeraj is still absconding, while Sunil has been arrested and sent to jail.
Investigation by the excise department revealed that the party was organised to finalise a consensus candidate, but when both of them did not budge from their stands, poison was mixed in the ‘pavva’, which finally led to the death of four villagers.
“This new way of eliminating rivals in the panchayat elections is disturbing, because they are using genuine factory-made liquor and are trying to paint it as hooch tragedies,” Bhoosreddy said.
In Meerut’s Doonger village in Rohta police circle, two persons, identified as Sudhir and Jogendra, died after consuming liquor at a party thrown by one Sachin alias Udal, a candidate for the post of pradhan. It was found that hundreds had consumed the ‘desi’ liquor at the party, but there were only two deaths. It was said that the two had refused to follow the wishes of Sachin alias Udal who is now languishing in jail.
Four days back, a similar incident was reported from Ayodhya district where two persons died after consuming liquor at a party thrown by Rajnath Verma, a candidate for the post of pradhan. Similarly, in Budaun, a villager died after consuming liquor at a party thrown by Bhagwan Das, a candidate for the pradhan’s post. The investigation in most cases confirms that those who perished in the liquor tragedies were opponents of the host of the party and given poison in liquor.
The ACS, excise further said that with the panchayat elections coming close the possibility of illicit liquor being smuggled into the state has increased. Thus, an anti-illicit liquor campaign has been launched jointly by police and the excise departments in the state. In 2020, 50-lakh ‘petis’ (cases) were sold in the state in comparison to 35-lakh petis in 2019. The sale of ‘pauvvas’ is already skyrocketing in the state and is set to play a crucial role in the forthcoming panchayat elections.