Gujarat assembly passes bill proposing death for bootleggers

September 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Reeling under crises after its debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had a reason to celebrate when it won seven of the 12 bye-elections to various state assemblies Monday. The Congress party received a setback, getting only four seats.

September 14th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Coming out of its poor show in the recent Lok Sabha and local body elections in Gujarat the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won five assembly seats out of seven constituencies. The by election to the seven assembly seats was held on September 10nd the counting was held on Monday.

August 2nd, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - To probe the alleged nexus between bootleggers and police, the Gujarat government has ordered scrutiny of the service records of the cops allegedly linked to the illicit liquor deaths in the state last month. The scrutiny is being carried out to know if these policemen were earlier posted in any other area in Gujarat where cases against bootleggers had been filed previously.

July 28th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat assembly Tuesday passed the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) bill, which had been returned three times by the central government. The GUJCOC bill was passed with only a minor amendment, of adding the word "terrorism" instead of "organised crime" throughout the bill as the Gujarat government does not have a single law exclusively to deal with terrorist activities.

July 16th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - The Gujarat government was compelled to introduce amendments in the prohibition law, providing for death penalty to bootleggers, as the the president's assent to the Gujarat Control of Organised Crime (GUJCOC) bill has been delayed, a senior official said here Thursday. The state cabinet Wednesday approved amendments in the Bombay Prohibition (Gujarat Amendment) Act, proposing death sentence or life term for those who manufacture and sell the killer brew - which claimed 136 lives in Ahmedabad last week.

July 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar Friday adjourned the house till 2 p.m. following the protests by Congress MPs from Gujarat, who raised the issue of the illicit liquor tragedy in Ahmedabad which has claimed at least 136 lives so far.

July 11th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Crime Branch of Ahmedabad police Saturday claimed to have identified the mastermind behind the moonshine tragedy which has so far claimed 136 lives in the city. "We have identified one bootlegger named Vinod Dagri, who is a resident of Mehamdabad (near Ahmedabad), to be the mastermind behind the supply of the killer country liquor.

July 11th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The death toll in Gujarat's worst moonshine tragedy has risen to 136 with 26 more people dying in city hospitals after consuming illicit liquor, officials said Saturday. This is the highest death toll in Gujarat from consuming moonshine since 1989 when 132 people had died in a matter of days in Vadodara.

July 9th, 2009 GANDHINAGAR - Police have closed down 1,200 liquor dens and arrested at least 800 bootleggers in Gujarat, an official said Thursday. The police action follows 84 deaths caused by moonshine in Ahmedabad city since Monday.

July 9th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The death toll caused by moonshine rose to 84 here Thursday in one of Gujarat's worst such tragedies, as the opposition denounced the government over the deaths in a state where consumption and sale of liquor is officially banned. Nearly 170 people were still warded in four hospitals of Ahmedabad, some in critical condition, authorities said.

July 7th, 2009 Bill would let IOUs pay for Calif. taxes, feesSACRAMENTO, Calif.

April 29th, 2009 PANAJI - A Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislator from Goa has been booked for forcibly whisking away two bootleggers, who were accused of smuggling liquor into Karnataka for distribution during the election campaign. Legislator Ramesh Tawadkar was named in a police complaint by the forest department Tuesday, two days after he took away the bootleggers.

March 5th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) wants to field candidates from seven significant Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat even as negotiations are on with the Congress, which wants to fight on all the 26 seats in the state. The key Lok Sabha seats being demanded by Sharad Pawar's NCP are Rajkot, Dahod, Anand, Godhra, Bharuch, Ahmedabad (East) and Kutch.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) Tuesday said it will field candidates in all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat. 'Gujarat is an important state for the BSP high command.

March 4th, 2009 AHMEDABAD - The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) has decided to field candidates from all the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat, it said Tuesday. 'Gujarat is an important state for the BSP high command.