An inspector of Madhya Pradesh Police was on Monday mowed down in Dewas district by a truck that he had intercepted on suspicion of smuggling illegal liquor, police said on Monday. The officer has been identified as Khategaon police station in-charge Dilip Puri.
An investigation launched following the incident has uncovered an illicit trade network spanning in multiple districts of Madhya Pradesh that supplies liquor to Gujarat.
According to the police, the incident took place around 1.30 a.m. on Indore-Betul highway when Mr. Puri was leading one of the four teams formed based on intelligence inputs that large amounts of illicit liquor was being transported from Harda district’s Timarni to Gujarat.
During the checking, a parked truck was spotted near Sandalpur in Dewas district and Mr. Puri had asked the driver to step down for a search.
“The driver, however, with the intent of killing Dilip Puri, ran him over with the truck and fled the scene. Mr. Puri died during treatment. The driver also tried to run over constable Sohan Jaat, who has suffered injuries,” an official police statement said.
The driver abandoned the truck after some distance and fled the scene. Dewas Superintendent of Police Aditya Mishra said that the truck was seized and more than 1,800 litres of illicit liquor in about 200 cartons were recovered from it. A video of the truck’s inspection showed that the cartons had been kept in a hidden chamber, made by laying down an additional metal surface to project the vehicle as empty.
Special Director General (DG) of Police Upendra Jain, who has been deputed by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav to oversee the probe, told The Hindu that the driver has been identified as Gajendra Rawat alias Akku, a resident of Alirajpur district, and a search is on for him. He said that the vehicle had been provided by Kairam Singh Changod, also from Alirajpur, and the local police has taken him into custody and is being questioned.
Mr. Jain said that a case under BNS Sections 103(1), 109(1), 121(2), 3(5) and Section 34(2) Madhya Pradesh Excise Act, 1915, has been lodged.
The Special DG said that the investigation has been revealed that the illicit liquor was being taken from Harda to Gujarat.
Mr. Jain said that the police have identified several people involved in the illicit liquor network. They are Patendra Jaiswal, a resident of Badwani district who owns a government licensed liquor shop in Harda, and his business partners — Manish Jaiswal of Indore, Mohin Jaiswal who lives in Gujarat, and Rahul Jaiswal of Harda’s Timarni and his associate Vijay Rao, a resident of Indore.
The officer said that Mr. Rahul Jaiswal has been identified as a key accused, ran the network to supply illicit liquor to Gujarat. He and Mr. Rao have been taken into custody and are being questioned about their entire network.
Mr. Rahul Jaiswal has been identified as a Congress functionary, and is the party’s in-charge for the Khategaon Assembly seat.
“Rahul Jaiswal operates the network from Harda to smuggle illegal liquor to Gujarat. He runs the racket to supply liquor from three shops to various regions. All the money from the illicit liquor trade would go to him which he then distributed to others,” the officer said.
Mr. Jain said that the police have uncovered the entire racket of illicit liquor trade and that the SPs of five districts have formed multiple teams in their respective regions that are conducting raids to nab people involved in the cartel.
The Dewas Police have also announced a reward of Rs10,000 each for the absconding accused in the case.
Meanwhile, the State Excise Department suspended Assistant District Excise Officer, Harda, Amar Singh Baghel and two excise constables for negligence.
Harda Collector Kumar Satyam also cancelled the licenses of three shops of Mr. Patendra Jaiswal in the district.
A post-mortem has been conducted on the deceased officer’s body and a special investigation team (SIT) has been formed in the case.
Mr. Puri, a resident of Dhar district, had joined the service in 2007 as a sub-inspector and had been posted in Dewas just a few months ago. He is survived by his wife, a daughter and a son. His body was dispatched to his village in Dhar.
The incident comes amid the ongoing investigation into the death of 13 people in two villages of the district, allegedly due to spurious liquor. Following the incident, the government had also transferred both the then Collector and SP of the district amid the controversy.
In the past one week, the police had also arrested 11 people in connection with manufacturing and sale of illicit and counterfeit liquor in the region.
Mr. Yadav expressed grief over the officer’s demise, announcing financial aid of Rs1 crore for Mr. Puri’s family and a sub-inspector post job for his wife on compassionate grounds.
“My deepest condolences are with the bereaved family members in this difficult time. The state government stands with the affected family. Special DG Shri Upendra Jain has been immediately dispatched to the scene for the investigation of the incident. Instructions have been given for a fair investigation and strict action in the matter,” he said on X.
The Opposition Congress, that has been alleging “government protection” to liquor mafia, hit out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government over law and order in the State. The Congress has alleged that no action has been taken senior government officials, despite various hooch tragedies in the State.
State Congress president Jitu Patwari said, “This incident shows how high the courage of the criminals doing illegal liquor business in the state is. The question is, how did the liquor business continue to flourish right under the nose of the administration?”
He demanded a high-level investigation into all illicit liquor related incidents in the State.
Earlier in September, more than 25 people had died after drinking counterfeit, poisonous liquor in Sagar district, after which the government had claimed that an operation to crackdown on illicit liquor trade had been launched in the State.
Published – November 02, 2026 12:23 pm IST
