A second wanted suspect in the Sagar spurious liquor case has been shot and arrested within 48 hours, as Madhya Pradesh police press ahead with a manhunt that has now netted 19 people.

Shivanjay Rajput, 21, from Chhapri village, was hit in the leg early Sunday during what police describe as a brief exchange of fire near the Kathua Nala forest area under Bahrol police station. Superintendent of Police Anurag Sujania said Rajput allegedly fired three rounds at the approaching police team. Officers fired two rounds back. One found its mark. Rajput is now in hospital, and police say his condition is stable.

He carried a reward of Rs 30,000 on his head. According to police, he had been absconding since the spurious liquor incident came to light and was allegedly involved in brewing the liquor at the centre of the case.

The operation wasn't random. Police say they'd got a tip that Rajput was near Kathua Nala and might cross over via the Dhamoni-Bahrol road. Teams from both Bandri and Bahrol police stations moved in and sealed off the stretch. Rajput, riding a motorcycle, allegedly spotted the cordon and opened fire before police responded.

From the scene, police recovered a country-made.315-bore pistol, three live cartridges, three spent ones, a mobile phone and the motorcycle he was riding.

This is the second such encounter in the case in under a week. On Friday, Ravi Lakhera, a resident of Lalitpur in Uttar Pradesh, was shot and arrested under similar circumstances. Lakhera too carried a Rs 30,000 bounty and, police say, has 25 other cases against him. He was allegedly part of the same liquor-brewing operation and was injured in that exchange of fire before being taken into custody.

With Rajput's arrest, the count of people held in connection with the case has climbed to 19. Police have registered a case naming 30 people in total, which means at least 11 named accused remain at large.

Sujania hasn't said how many more suspects police expect to pick up, or whether further raids are planned in the near term. What's clear is that the investigation is still very much active, and that police are treating the remaining absconders as armed and dangerous, given how the last two encounters played out. More arrests, and possibly more gunfire, look likely before this case is anywhere close to closed.