36 die in Gujarat hooch tragedy

The total number of dead as on Tuesday was 36, of which 25 were in Botad district. The remaining 11 were in the villages in Ahmedabad district.

At least 36 people have died and 56 more have taken ill in two districts of Gujarat after they consumed spurious liquor, police said on Tuesday. The affected are in Botad district and Dhandhuka taluka of neighbouring Ahmedabad district, where they consumed the hooch on Monday.

At least 36 people have died and 56 more have taken ill in two districts of Gujarat after they consumed spurious liquor, police said on Tuesday. (AP)

Officials said initially, two-three people were hospitalised on Monday before more started becoming sick. Police, who detained thirteen people, said the concoction the victims consumed was methyl alcohol, or methanol -- an industrial solvent -- mixed with water. Alcohol in this form is highly poisonous.

The head of a village panchayat in Botad district told HT that he had tipped off the police about sale of illicit liquor months earlier. On Tuesday, police said preliminary investigations identified small time bootleggers from different villages in Botad who sold spurious liquor made by mixing water with methanol pilfered from industrial units.

Gujarat is a ‘dry’ state where manufacture and sale of liquor is banned. As per the Gujarat Prohibition Act, police can arrest a person for purchasing, consuming, or serving alcohol without a permit with punishment from three months to five years in prison.

Speaking to reporters, Gujarat DGP Ashish Bhatia said the incident came to light on Monday after two to three people fell ill and were hospitalised , soon after which their condition started deteriorating. Bhatia said that forensic reports showed the substance consumed by the deceased contained 99% methyl alcohol.

The total number of dead as on Tuesday was 36, of which 25 were in Botad district. The remaining 11 were in the villages in Ahmedabad district.

Bhatia said a person identified as Jayesh aka Raju stole 600 litres of methyl alcohol from a chemical company’s godown in Ahmedabad’ Aslali area where he worked as a manager. He then sold it to his Botad-based cousin Sanjay for ₹40,000 on July 25, said Bhatia. It was later sold to small time bootleggers including a woman. The pouches in which the chemical was packed were sold for ₹20 each. One of the deceased included a bootlegger from Rojida who consumed the toxic chemical, according to police.

Three FIRs have been registered against 13 people under Indian Penal Code Sections 302 (murder), 328 (causing hurt by poison) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and most of them have been detained, the officer said.

The Gujarat Home Department has formed a three-member committee headed by senior Indian Police Service officer Subhash Trivedi to conduct a detailed inquiry into the incident and submit a report within three days, a state government release said. The other two members of the committee are Prohibition and Excise director, MA Gandhi, and Gujarat Forensic Science Laboratory director, HP Sanghvi.

Jigar Dungrani, the 27-year-old village head of Rojid in Dhandhuka taluka of Botad district, where at least 18 people have died, wrote to police on March 4 this year, saying there was an atmosphere of fear in the village as country liquor was being sold openly.

“There was a police raid in our village after my letter but nobody was caught. If no liquor is sold in our village, how did these people fall ill and die? When I complained to the police that a person from our village beat up his parents after getting drunk, the police said he was sober. Police did not accept that liquor was sold and consumed in our village. I wrote the letter when I saw a 15-year-old boy consuming alcohol. I did not know then that the result could be so grave. Twelve people have died so far from my village and two-three are in critical condition,” said Dungrani.

Dhandhuka MLA Rajeshkumar Gohil of the Congress, under whose constituency Botad village comes, said he had raised the issue on April 6 during the taluka-level meet about strict implementation of the prohibition law in Rojid village.

“Due to inaction from the authorities, the bootleggers got a free hand and one can see what this led to. When the Mamlatdar office (revenue department) raided the village in April, liquor was caught but nothing was found in police raids. So many people have died today in villages of Botad district and the highest are from Rojid. The sarpanch of the village was threatened with his life by those in illegal liquor sale business when he raised the issue,” said Gohil.

The Aam Aadmi Party on Tuesday condemned the deaths and alleged that systematic failure of the state’s BJP government. Delhi chief minister and AAP convenor, Arvind Kejriwal, visited the affected people admitted in Civil Hospital, Bhavanagar.

According to AAP chief spokesperson and Delhi MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj: “Despite being a dry state, over 845 people have died in 15 years because of illegal alcohol in Gujarat; why is BJP giving patronage to such a huge network of bootleggers... the Gujarat government is losing 15,000 crores every year due to the liquor ban, but liquor is being sold openly; who is benefitting out of this? Who is minting money at the cost of the public?”

“This is a very unfortunate incident. The government is doing everything to ensure that such incidents do not recur. The police has acted very swiftly and all those who are guilty will not be spared,” said Yamal Vyas, Gujarat BJP spokesperson.