Twenty-two people from four Aligarh villages have died after drinking hooch on Thursday amid allegations that police had earlier ignored complaints against the main accused, a panchayat member, and got the villagers to intimidate the complainant into silence.

Sushma Devi, 28, of Karsua village told reporters on Saturday that she had complained to the local police and excise officials on April 30 when her brother Pushpendra Kumar, 35, died after drinking liquor distributed free by Rishi Sharma.

“Rishi and his friend (and co-accused) Anil Chaudhary are local (Independent) politicians. They manufacture and sell illegal liquor. I had met some junior police and excise officials after my brother’s death,” Sushma said.

“They ignored my complaint and mounted pressure on the villagers to prevent me from meeting their seniors. The villagers asked me to stay at home and stop pursuing the case.”

Rishi and Anil were elected to the block development council (equivalent to a panchayat samiti) from the villages of Pala Kastali and Nagla Kunji, respectively, in last month’s panchayat elections. The deaths occurred in these two villages, Karsua and Cherath.

Anil has been arrested while the state government has announced a reward of Rs 50,000 for information on Rishi. Also in hiding are the two other accused, Rishi’s younger brother Munish and Anil’s younger brother Sudhir, a government liquor contractor.

“One can see Rishi with an Uttar Pradesh minister on his Facebook page. Both Rishi and Anil were BJP-supported panchayat candidates,” alleged Jamir Ullah, former Rashtriya Lok Dal MLA, who met some of the victims’ family members.

Satish Gautam, Aligarh MP from the BJP, said: “Whoever they are, they will be punished. The government has decided to seize their properties.”