Toll in Motihari hooch tragedy rises to 26 as 4 more die

The Bihar police headquarters (PHQ) claimed that methyl mixed with spirit appears to be the reason behind the alleged tragedy which took place in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

PATNA: As the toll in the Motihari hooch tragedy jumped to 26 on Monday with the death of four more people, the Bihar police headquarters (PHQ) claimed that methyl mixed with spirit appears to be the reason behind the alleged tragedy which took place in the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.

Relatives of victims mourn in Motihari on Sunday. (PTI)

Police said that as per unconfirmed reports, 34 people lost their lives, while many of them lost their eyesight after consuming spurious liquor in the localities of five police stations area in Turkoulia, Harsiddhi, Paharpur, Raghunathpur, and Sugauli. 25 people are still undergoing treatment at various hospitals in the state.

“After going through the autopsy report of seven people, the doctor’s primary opinion revealed that the men consumed spurious liquor,” said ADG (CID) Jitendra Kumar, while addressing the media.

The ADG further stated that the viscera report of seven people has been preserved and will be sent to a forensic lab in Patna for testing.

The viscera are preserved to ascertain the cause of death in cases where autopsies are inconclusive, mostly in suspected cases of poisoning.

According to the ADG, the probe team found that the illegal liquid materials were transported from state border areas. He also said that the government has decided to go for a CID (prohibition department) inquiry into the hooch deaths.

The East Champaran police have also registered five separate FIRs with four police stations against 20 named and 15 unidentified bootleggers on April 14 and 15 respectively.

The ADG also informed that all the concerned SHOs of five police stations have been put under suspension for dereliction of duty besides two personnel in charge of the anti-liquor task force and nine chowkidars have been suspended.

“Nineteen bodies were cremated before the police arrived at the spot,” the ADG said, adding that an FSL team and DIG (Prohibition) M S Dhillon visited the spot and recorded the statements of the victims’ families and collected samples of spirit and spurious materials from the spot.

Police said that 25 people have been arrested so far in connection with the hooch deaths and that raids are being to conducted to nab the others.

The district administration also launched a drive against the liquor mafia and arrested 103 persons people on Monday for allegedly being involved in the illegal liquor trade and recovered huge quantities of illegal materials like spurious alcohol, spirits and other related chemicals were seized during searches at more than 600 places in different parts of the district where deaths due to the consumption of illicit alcohol were first reported on April 14, police said.

Meanwhile, grief shrouded people in Laksmipur village in Turkoulia, which witnessed the maximum number of deaths.

Reema Devi, a native of Jaisingpur village under Turkoulia police station, whose husband Guddu Sahni died in the hooch tragedy, told HT that Sahni, who was in jail for consuming liquor was released on April 14. “To celebrate the release, he along with others consumed spurious liquor and died in the hospital. If I would have known that my husband would again consume alcohol, I would have never managed his bail,” she lamented.

Bihar’s excise minister Sunil Kumar said that investigations so far have pointed out that the deaths mainly occurred among the poor sections of society.

“So far, as per available evidences on the basis of autopsy reports, around 200 people have died in hooch tragedies since April 2016,” he said.