Kohima: Seventeen people are dead after drinking tainted liquor in Tuensang and Mokokchung. Nine died in Tuensang and eight in Mokokchung. Both districts have set up local Special Investigation Teams, but a state-level probe remains under review. Nagaland DGP Rupin Sharma spoke at the Nagaland Police Complex in Chumoukedima on September 29. He told reporters, "We will consider if we can set up an SIT or a higher-level probe so that we can look at the trafficking of liquor throughout the state."
Police caught 7,740 bottles of Indian Made Foreign Liquor in Kohima on September 28. Officers arrested the truck driver. Earlier in May, Mokokchung police intercepted 15,000 empty McDowell’s rum bottles. ADGP Sandeep M Tamgadge explained a major legal hurdle. Police cannot file FIRs for Nagaland Liquor Total Prohibition Act violations without a written complaint from an Excise official. Courts have previously tossed out police cases over this technicality.
Investigations remain difficult. Tuensang police conducted zero post-mortems on the victims. Mokokchung doctors performed four. Police identified out-of-state sources for the booze but lack the evidence to make arrests. Officers mostly catch retailers, not the leaders. DGP Sharma admitted, "have not been able to trace the backward linkages of who is bringing it, where it is being brought, and where it is coming from."
The force faces internal pressure to improve coordination with the Department of Excise and Prohibition. Sharma said he plans to address these issues. Meanwhile, the department is boosting its gear. Modernization efforts now include forensic kits, deep search metal detectors, and mobile data extraction tools. Nagaland records roughly 1,300 FIRs every year.
Updated at 30th September 2026 at 9:47am
DGP Sharma noted that the three incidents in Mokokchung, Tuensang, and Kohima might be examined together to determine if a centralized investigation is needed. He also pointed to the state's small Criminal Investigation Department as a bottleneck, noting that SIT members currently split their focus while continuing to perform regular daily duties. The force is now working to strengthen the CID for more focused work.
ADGP Tamgadge confirmed that investigators have sent seized liquor samples to Central Forensic Science Laboratories in Dimapur and Guwahati to determine if the alcohol was indeed toxic. While police lack the power to file suo motu cases for prohibition violations, he confirmed that the legal issue regarding FIRs has been formally brought to the state government's attention.
On the modernization front, officials clarified that investment depends on actual crime volume, with the state logging about 1,300 cases a year. The state government recently spun off the Directorate of Forensic Sciences into an independent body under the Home Department, moving it away from police control. The state has also deployed 12 mobile forensic vans and acquired specialized gear for DNA and narcotics analysis to boost evidence gathering.
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