Sagar hooch tragedy: Two more key accused held after encounter; 39 arrested so far

Two prime accused in the hooch tragedy that has claimed 20 lives so far in Madhya Pradesh’s Sagar district were held after a brief encounter on Wednesday (September 23, 2026), officers said.

According to the police, Manish Lodhi alias Yashwant Thakur and his accomplice Ashish Sahu were held after a brief encounter around 3 a.m. near Malthone area, about 50 kilometres from the district headquarters. Lodhi suffered a bullet injury in his leg in the encounter.

With Lodhi and Sahu, the total number of accused arrested in the case has reached 39. The police have named 52 people in two separate cases filed in the wake of the tragedy in villages across Sagar’s Banda and Shahgarh sub-divisions.